14 Reasons Why Not
by smileybubbles08
Summary: A JONAS fic. Because sometimes you like me just a little too much. Because I get hurt every time we touch. Because your craziness can make me crazy too. KevinxMacy and some JoexStella
1. Sweaty Palms and Word Vomit

**Okay, I never thought I'd actually be writing a JONAS fan fiction, but I watched the episode where Kevin asks Macy to sing backup for them, and I thought they were adorable. And that inspired me to write song lyrics from Kevin's point of view, so I had to write a story to go with the song, and voila, this fic was born. I've also included a few little Joe/Stella moments. This is my first non-Quogan fic, so to all of my subscribers who opened this hoping for another Quogan, I'm sorry. But I hope you enjoy, and even if you don't end up reading this story, I hope you stay tuned for the fifteenth chapter, when I reveal Kevin's song. By the way, the Seddie fic I promised is still in the works.**

**Sorry about the ridiculously long intro. I'll let you get to the story now. Please review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own JONAS. The characters in this story are the fictional JONAS characters and not the real Jonas brothers.**

**14 Reasons Why Not**

**Chapter 1: Sweaty Palms and Word Vomit**

Nick Lucas stood before his brothers in his brand-new Stella-designed jeans and blazer. He popped the collar and struck a pose.

"What do you guys think?" Stella asked excitedly, straightening Nick's tie and smoothing down the collar.

"Nice," Kevin complimented.

Nick nodded. "It's _nice_. But it feels like something's missing."

"Stella's the fashion expert, not you," Joe disagreed. "I don't think you should question her design."

"No, I think Nick's right," Stella said, thoughtfully.

"On second thought, maybe it does need something," Joe amended immediately.

"Suck up!" Kevin coughed into his closed fist. Joe glared at his brother and Stella pretended not to hear.

Stella stood in front of Nick and studied the ensemble thoughfully, her chin resting on her hand and her eyes squinting in concentration.

"Maybe a belt? Like, a red one?" Nick suggested.

Stella wrinkled her nose.

"Or yellow?" Joe suggested. "With matching cufflinks?"

Stella grinned. "Joe, you're brilliant."

Joe smiled back. "Well, I learned all I know from you."

"Whipped!" Kevin coughed.

"You're one to talk!" Joe shot back.

Kevin's eyes grew wide. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I know what Joe's talking about," Nick replied.

"I think we all know what he's talking about," Stella said.

"I do not like Macy," Kevin defended himself, his voice a full octave higher than normal.

Stella and Joe exchanged amused glances, and even Nick smiled slightly.

"What's everyone smiling about?" Kevin asked, wiping his suddenly sweaty palms on his jeans.

Kevin's hands tended to sweat whenever he got nervous, which, lately, had been happening every time anyone mentioned Macy's name.

"No one said anything about Macy," Nick told him. "You basically just confessed to liking her."

"That wasn't a confession!" Kevin disagreed, in his dangerously squeaky voice. "Your logic is totally…unlogical."

"The word is _illogical_, and no it isn't," Nick replied.

"Look, we all know you like Macy," Stella said. "So why don't you just ask her out already?"

"I _don't _like Macy. I could list all the reasons that I don't like her."

"Then do it," Joe said. "Make us a list of reasons you won't ask Macy out."

"Right now?" Kevin said, his eyes now wider than ever.

"Let's make it interesting," Stella suggested. "You hang out with Macy for an hour or two every day for three weeks—"

"One week," Kevin interrupted.

"Two weeks," Nick said.

Kevin shook his head. "Fifteen days."

"Deal," Nick replied.

"Okay, fifteen days," Stella said. "And at the end of each day, you come up with one reason not to ask Macy out."

"And if you can come up with a new reason every day, you win, and we admit you don't like Macy," Joe said.

"But if you can't come up with fifteen reasons, you ask Macy out," Nick finished.

"Wait a minute," Kevin said. "I just realized, two weeks is less than fifteen days."

"You agreed to fifteen days," Joe said.

"Well, I changed my mind."

"Too bad," Joe argued.

"But—"

"Fine, we'll go with two weeks," Stella interrupted.

"Two weeks works," Joe replied quickly.

"Then it's settled. Two weeks starting tomorrow," Kevin said.

"Fine," Joe said.

"Fine," Nick agreed.

"Fine," Stella echoed.

"Fine," Kevin said.

Stella made her way toward the middle fire pole in the boys' room. "I'm gonna go let my best friend know that Kevin of JONAS plans to eat lunch with her tomorrow at school."

Stella slid down the pole and was gone. Kevin looked at his younger brothers' smirking faces.

"What did I just agree to?"

xoxoxo

Kevin clenched his churning stomach as he made his way to the cafeteria for lunch. According to Stella, when Macy found out that a member of JONAS wanted to eat lunch with her, she screamed for five minutes, and then spent two hours worrying about what they were going to talk about. Coincidentally, Kevin had spent roughly the same amount of time worrying about the same thing. He wiped his palms on his jeans once again and took a deep breath before stepping into the crowded cafeteria. He hadn't been this nervous since the first time JONAS went on tour.

He spotted Macy across the cafeteria, sitting with his brothers and Stella. He gave a sigh of relief. At least he wouldn't have to spend lunch alone with Macy. He was sure he wouldn't be able to survive that. After paying for his lunch, he made his way over to the table and took a seat between Nick and Joe.

"Hi, Kevin," Macy greeted him excitedly. "This is exciting, isn't it? Because usually I just eat lunch with Stella, and today I'm eating with all three members of JONAS. And I'm surprisingly calm about this. I mean, normally when I get nervous and excited at the same time, I can't stop talking, and I say a bunch of embarrassing stuff that I don't actually mean to say. Like when I went on my first date, I accidentally told my date that I'd had a crush on him since fourth grade and I kept a picture of him on my nightstand that I always kissed before I went to bed. He avoided me until the end of the school year, and then he moved to Arizona."

The brothers stared wide-eyed at the petite brunette.

"Right," Nick said.

"I photo shopped my school ID photo into the picture from your second JONAS album and had it laminated!" Macy blurted. She quickly slapped her hand over her mouth.

"She's joking," Stella explained. "Right, Macy? Macy?"

With her hand still pressed against her mouth, Macy nodded vigorously. Stella reached over and pulled her hand down. "I love you!" Macy blurted.

Stella placed Macy's hand back over her mouth. "Let's just leave that there."

All three brothers nodded. "That sounds like a good idea," Joe agreed.

The five of them sat in silence for a moment, Macy still covering her mouth to avoid embarrassing word spillage.

Stella checked her watch. "You guys, I totally forgot, I'm...tutoring someone during lunch today. Gotta go."

Macy looked at Stella desperately and shook her head wildly. Ignoring Macy's silent plea to stay, Stella grabbed her purse and left.

"You know what, I have to go too," Joe said. "I forgot that…I'm the one Stella's tutoring. See ya."

Macy waved with her free hand.

"I have to go too," Nick said. "Because…I'm full. And I don't like the smell of cafeteria."

Kevin's palms were now clammy and damp. He had the opposite of Macy's problem. When he got nervous, he couldn't think of anything to say at all.

He cleared his throat. "Um, I think it's safe to uncover your mouth now."

Macy thought for a minute, then shook her head.

"It's okay," Kevin assured her. "I don't think you could really say anything worse than the thing about the laminated JONAS picture with your school ID photo shopped in."

Hesitantly, Macy pulled down her hand. "What if I told you I had dreams about you and your brothers almost every night?" she blurted, the second her mouth was free.

"I'd say that was…flattering," Kevin said, his voice unnaturally high-pitched.

"You're trying not to hurt my feelings," Macy said. "I know your lying voice."

"Okay, I'm slightly freaked out by the dream thing. And the photo shopped ID thing. And the hundreds of pictures of JONAS in your locker," Kevin admitted. "But I'm flattered too. I mean, I think it's pretty cool that our number one fan goes to our school. Most people around here think we're nothing special. Some people even booed when they played one of our songs at the fall dance. They think that just because we're famous we're suddenly…I don't know…arrogant or something."

"To be honest, I think Joe is a little arrogant," Macy replied, before cringing at her own words.

"What?" Kevin replied, stunned.

"I mean, not because he's famous. Stella says he was kind of cocky before JONAS hit it big."

"What?" Kevin said again.

"Well, he kind of has the right to be. After all, he is the cutest out of the three of you."

"WHAT?" Kevin said a third time.

"None of this is coming out right, is it?" Macy asked. "Maybe I should go back to covering my mouth."

"I can agree with the part about Joe being full of himself, but he is not better looking than me," Kevin said.

Macy looked down at her tray, hiding her thoughts.

"What?" Kevin repeated again.

"Nothing," Macy replied. "I think I've said enough."

"Oh, now you can keep your thoughts to yourself? Come on, I want to know what you were thinking," Kevin urged.

"Okay, I was thinking that you were starting to sound a little cocky yourself," Macy admitted, with the tiniest hint of a smile.

"Oh I was, was I?" Kevin asked, smiling back. "Well aren't you gonna tell me that I have the right to be cocky because I'm so good-looking?"

"Okay," Macy replied, her smile breaking into a grin. "You have just as much right to be cocky as Joe does, if not more, because you are the best guitar player."

"Thank you. And you're right. I am."

"Okay, now you're starting to sound a little _too_ cocky."

They both laughed, and Kevin found that her laugh was quite pleasant. Not the laugh he usually heard from her, the high-pitched JONAS fan giggle. This was a sweet laugh, that reminded him of music. In fact, as he listened to her laugh, he started unconsciously writing music in his head.

"Are we having an actual pleasant conversation here?"

Macy's eyes widened. "We are! I can't believe I'm having a real conversation with a JONAS and not going totally fan girl crazy!"

"Neither can I."

"When Stella told me you were gonna eat lunch with me today, I was so freaked out. I couldn't believe you wanted to sit with me."

"Well, why wouldn't I want to sit with you?" Kevin asked. "We're friends, right?"

"Frie—" Before Macy could even repeat the word, she fainted into her untouched mashed potatoes.

xoxoxo

Kevin carried the unconscious Macy to the nurses office to be revived, and was surprised to find Stella and his brothers waiting there for him.

"We figured she'd probably faint," Nick explained.

"Frankly, I'm surprised she lasted as long as she did," Joe commented.

"So, you ready to start this list?" Stella asked, holding up a pen and a yellow notepad.

Kevin laid Macy down on one of the beds and took the pad and pen from Stella. Using Nick's back as a writing surface, he scrawled, "**Reason # 1: She's too obsessed with me.**"

"Obsessed with you?" Joe said, reading the first item on Kevin's list. "That's not a good reason, man. She's not obsessed with _you_. She's obsessed with _the band_. If she's obsessed with anyone in specific, it's me, because I'm the front man and I'm the best looking."

Nick raised an eyebrow.

"Right," Kevin said. "Joe, you should know that your biggest fan thinks you're a little arrogant." He slapped his brother on the back. "You might want to work on that."

**Hope you enjoyed chapter one. Please review, even if you hated it. I'll update as soon as I can, but I'll only be able to update once or twice every week, because I don't have a very stable internet connection.**

**Next Chapter: Golf Clubs and Lacrosse Sticks**


	2. Golf Clubs and Lacrosse Sticks

**I didn't expect to be uploading this chapter so soon, but I've got a good connection and the chapter is written, so here it is. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter and subscribed to my story. Please review!**

**I don't own JONAS.**

**14 Reasons Why Not**

**Chapter 2: Golf Clubs and Lacrosse Sticks**

"So you know how I told you about that recurring JONAS dream I have?" Macy said, as she and Stella walked to their lockers together from home room.

"The one where you all shrink to the size of mice and move into the little barn with the spinning windmill at the miniature golf course?" Stella asked.

"That's the one."

"What about it?"

"Well, I had it again last night," Macy told her, opening her locker to reveal the many pictures of JONAS she had taped to the inside of the door. "But this time, it wasn't with all three of the brothers. It was just Kevin. Is that weird?"

Stella grinned. "I don't know. Maybe it means you like him."

Macy shrugged, pulling down a picture of JONAS and replacing it with a new one of Kevin by himself. "Well, of course I like him."

"I mean maybe you _like _him. As Kevin Lucas, and not as Kevin of JONAS."

Macy looked thoughtful. "Do you think dreams really mean something? I mean, are they pulled out of our subconscious, or are they just weird hallucinations we have when we eat the wrong foods before bed? Because I did have a late supper last night, and my mom made some Filipino dish that was really spicy."

"Well, maybe you'll get some sort of a sign," Stella replied. "Anyways, I've got art next, so I'll see you later."

xoxoxo

Kevin approached Macy's locker after third period, reading the note that Stella had passed to him during social studies.

_Tell Macy that you and your brothers are going mini golfing tonight, and invite her to go along_, the note instructed. _Don't forget to mention the windmill hole._

Kevin shrugged and shoved the note into his pocket.

Out of the corner of her eye, Macy saw Kevin approaching, and turned to face him. Unfortunately, she had just gotten out of gym, and was holding a lacrosse stick. Just as she was turning to face him, Kevin took the final step towards her, and he got whacked with the stick directly on his left eye.

Macy gasped. "Kevin! Are you okay? I'm so sorry!"

Kevin cupped his hand over his swelling eye. "I'm fine. It's nothing."

"I'm so sorry," Macy repeated, dropping her lacrosse stick and pulling down Kevin's hand to get a look at his eye. "Oh, that looks bad."

"It's not as bad as it looks. Really. It doesn't even hurt," Kevin assured her in his high-pitched lying voice.

Macy gingerly touched the corner of his eye. He flinched in pain. "Here, this should help," she said, pulling a cold water bottle from her locker, moist with condensation. Kevin sucked in a breath as she gently pressed the bottle to his eye. "How does that feel?"

Suddenly the song that had been in his head the previous day—the song that had written itself when he had heard her laugh—was playing again. "Wonderful," Kevin breathed. He cleared his throat. "I mean…better. Thank you."

"What are you doing here? I'm just putting new pictures of JONAS in my locker. Well, not all of them are of JONAS. One is of my mom and my cat, and two of them are of just you. That's not weird, is it? Maybe I should stop talking now. Should I cover my mouth again?"

Kevin stood silent for a moment before finally taking the bottle from Macy's hands and holding it up to his own eye. "I just came to invite you to go miniature golfing with my brothers and me after school today."

"You want me to go mini golfing with you?" Macy asked, amazed. She knelt down to pick up her lacrosse stick from the floor.

Kevin eyed the lacrosse stick in Macy's hand and imagined a golf club in its place. He wasn't so sure now.

"Well, you know, if you want to. I mean, I know you like sports and everything. And golf is kind of a sport, right? Nick really likes golf. The real kind, not the miniature kind. But Joe and I can only play the miniature kind."

Macy looked stunned at Kevin's invitation. "You, uh, like mini golf?" she repeated.

"Yeah," Kevin answered. He wiped his free hand on his jeans. His fingertip touched the corner of Stella's note and he was reminded of the rest of her instructions. "I, uh, especially like the part where you have to hit the ball through the windmill."

Macy's mouth dropped open.

"What's wrong?" Kevin asked.

"Nothing," Macy said. "Nothing at all. I would love to go mini golfing with you."

"Great," Kevin said. "I'll see you after school then." He pulled the water bottle away from his face. "You want this back?"

Macy shook her head, a dazed look on her face. "Keep it."

As Kevin turned to walk away, Macy called out, "Kevin?"

"Yeah?" he responded, turning to face her again.

"Do you believe in signs?" she asked.

"You mean like traffic signs? Sure."

"Right. Well, see you later."

Stella walked up to Macy's locker just as Kevin was walking away.

"Hey, Macy. What were you and Kevin just talking about?"

Macy turned to Stella. Her eyes looked distant, as if they were still watching Kevin walk away instead of looking into the eyes of her best friend. "He likes the windmill and he believes in traffic signs."

Stella stared at Macy. "What?"

"Gotta get to class," Macy said, shutting her locker. "Golf class. I mean…miniature…biology."

Stella watched her best friend walk down the hallway in the opposite direction of her biology class, carrying a lacrosse stick and dragging her open backpack on the floor. She wrinkled her forehead in confusion. "Traffic signs?"

xoxoxo

"Remind me again why we have to be here?" Nick complained. He and Joe stood at the first hole at the miniature golf course. Kevin stood at the entrance to the park, waiting for Macy to arrive. "I mean, this is supposed to be Kevin's date, isn't it?"

"It's not a date," Joe reminded him. "Not yet anyways. Macy's just hanging out with three of her favorite people in the world. Until you and I ditch them at the windmill."

"Why the windmill?" Nick asked.

"Because Stella told us to ditch them at the windmill."

"But what's significant about the windmill?"

"How should I know?" Joe cried. "But I'm sure Stella knows what she's doing."

"That's what you said when you let Stella talk us into helping her set Kevin up with Macy," Nick replied.

"It's a good plan," Joe defended. "And Kevin's so predictable, there's no way it can backfire. It's fool proof."

"But is it Kevin-proof?" Nick replied.

"We tricked Kevin into making that bet with us so that he has to spend every day with Macy. He'll have to realize eventually that he likes her. And he even added that part about the list of reasons he doesn't like her all on his own. That's just the icing on the cake. There's no way he can think of fourteen reasons he isn't crazy about that lunatic."

"Nothing good has come of this plan yet," Nick argued. "So far, Kevin's got a black eye and Macy's fainted into her potatoes. And besides, what if we're wrong? What if Kevin doesn't like Macy, and he's just nice to her because he's a hopelessly nice guy?"

"Guys, she's coming!" Kevin cried, running toward his brothers. "Does this shirt fit me right? Does my eye look really bad?"

Joe gave Nick an "I-told-you-so" look, to which Nick graciously nodded his defeat.

"Not that I care," Kevin said quickly.

"Your eye looks…"Nick began.

"Terrible," Joe interrupted. "And you're shirt is…"

"Mine," Nick finished. "Which could be why it doesn't fit right."

"Dude, you've looked better," Joe commented.

"Who's looked better?" Macy asked, walking up to the three brothers. She saw Kevin's severely purple eye and cringed. "Oh."

xoxoxo

"I can't believe I'm actually mini golfing with JONAS," Macy gushed for the hundredth time.

"I can't believe you're beating all of us," Nick replied, staring skeptically at the score card.

"I played on the school golf team for two years," Macy explained. "On to the eighth hole. Oh, Kevin, look! It's your favorite hole!"

All three brothers looked up to see that they were indeed moving on to the windmill hole.

"Let's go," Kevin said, walking with Macy to the eighth hole.

Joe and Nick didn't move.

"How do we ditch the love birds?" Nick whispered.

"You fake an injury and I take you to the hospital?" Joe suggested.

"A golf injury?"

"We really should have thought this out beforehand."

"You think?"

"Nick! Joe!" Kevin called out. "You guys coming or what?"

Thinking quickly, Joe pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He motioned with his head for Nick to follow his lead. The two brothers joined Kevin and Macy at the eighth hole.

Joe flipped open his phone. "Hey, I just got a text message from Stella," he lied. "She needs to see Nick and me and _not Kevin_ right away."

Nick nodded. "Right. Then you and I and _not Kevin_ should get going."

"Yeah, Nick," Joe agreed. "Let's go." He pointed his golf club at Kevin. "Not you."

"Is Stella okay?" Macy asked. "Should I go with you?"

"No!" Joe and Nick cried in unison.

"She really only needs Nick and me," Joe explained. "And not you. Or Kevin."

"Bye," Nick said, as the two brothers rushed away.

"Looks like it's just you and me," Kevin told Macy. And there was that song again, playing over and over in his head.

"Yeah," Macy responded. "Just the two of us. At the windmill. It's your turn to putt."

Kevin nodded and swung his club at his small yellow golf ball. It sailed over the small barn and into the course's dyed-blue stream.

"You're swinging too hard," Macy explained. "It's putt-putt, not real golf. Watch."

Macy set her red golf ball on the ground and concentrated on it, visually lining it up with the turning windmill. She pulled back her club ever so slightly. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kevin watching her. She couldn't resist the urge to look at him. She turned her attention to him, finding the courage to look into his warm green eyes. Without thinking, she pulled back her club farther. And as she was about to tap the ball, Kevin smiled at her, and the next thing she knew, she was swinging, not even bothering to aim. Both teenagers watched as the red golf ball sailed through the air, towards Kevin. Macy covered her mouth with her hand, foreseeing what was about to occur. Just as she predicted, the red ball hit Kevin directly in his black eye.

"I'm so sorry!" she cried, running up to him.

"It's okay," Kevin assured her, clutching his eye in pain.

"I'll go get you and ice pack," Macy told him. As she turned to leave, she swung her golf club behind her, smacking Kevin on his right knee. Kevin cried out in pain and dropped to the ground. Macy winced. "Make that two ice packs."

Macy returned moments later carrying two frozen gel packs. Kevin was sitting on the Astroturf, clutching his knee with his right hand and his eye with his left. Macy knelt on the ground beside him.

"Hold this on your knee," she instructed, handing him one of the ice packs. He obeyed. "Now let's see that eye."

Kevin shook his head. "I'd rather we just left my eye alone."

Macy rolled her eyes and pried his hand away from his face. Kevin cringed as she pressed the frozen pack to his purple, swollen eye.

"Cold," he said.

"Does it help the pain?" Macy asked, hopefully.

"What pain?" Kevin asked, as Macy's fingertips grazed his temple. All he could think about was that song that kept playing in his head whenever she was around.

"You know, I've never had a black eye before," she told him. "As a kid, I always wanted one because I thought it would make me look tougher."

Kevin laughed. "Yeah, they look cool, in a kind of painful, disgusting way."

"Well, even a nasty shiner like this couldn't make your face any less beautiful," Macy replied. Both teenagers' faces reddened. "I didn't mean to make that sound as weird as it did."

"No, I'm flattered," Kevin reassured her.

Macy laughed uncomfortably. "This is more embarrassing than the time Stella ripped off my shirt in the hallway."

Kevin coughed. "She did WHAT?"

"It was an accident. She was testing her Stelcro shirt, and she wanted to see if the sleeve would rip off, but the whole shirt ripped off instead. Can you imagine?"

"Trying my best to stop myself," Kevin squeaked.

"Well, I don't think we'll be doing any more mini golfing today," Macy said after a few minutes. "Should we get out of here?"

"I may need your help," Kevin replied, indicating his injured knee.

Macy stood up and helped Kevin to his feet. "My mom dropped me off, and your brothers probably took you car. So I guess we'll have to take the bus."

"Neither of us lives that far from here," Kevin said. "Why don't we walk?"

xoxoxo

Twenty minutes later, Macy helped Kevin walk up his front steps.

"Sorry about your eye," Macy told him, when they reached the front door. "And your knee. And your eye again."

"It's nothing," Kevin assured her. "My eye will probably be back to normal in a week."

"Well, just to help it heal a little faster…" Macy stood on her toes and lightly kissed the corner of Kevin's eye. Then she took a step back, horrified at what she had just done, and quickly turned and rushed away.

"Good night!" Kevin called after her, putting a hand to his eye in disbelief, the song writing itself a new verse in his head.

He unlocked the front door and walked inside to find Joe, Nick, and even their youngest brother, Frankie, waiting for him.

"Dude, did your eye get worse?" Joe asked.

"Is that why that girl kissed it?" Frankie interrogated. "Who was that girl?"

"Frankie was spying on you through the peephole," Nick explained.

Kevin looked confused. "Frankie, you aren't even tall enough to see through the peephole."

"Nick let me sit on his shoulders," Frankie explained.

Kevin shot an accusing look at Nick, who shrugged in reply.

Joe held out the yellow notepad and a pen to Kevin. "Do you have anything to add to the list?" he asked. "About that sweet, pretty little girl who just kissed your eyeball?"

Kevin glared at his brother and snatched the notepad and pen from him. "**Reason # 2:**" he wrote, "**She's dangerous.**"

"Dudes, this will be the easiest bet I've ever won," Kevin said.

"She kissed you," Joe responded. "You won't last three more days."

**Okay, there you have it. I've tried to keep everyone in character up to this point, but I warn you, Macy and Kevin may change a lot by the end of the story. I'll probably upload the next chapter either Saturday or Sunday, hopefully. Please review.**

**Next Chapter: Ice Cream Cones and Photo Booths**


	3. Ice Cream Cones and Photo Booths

**Happy 4th of July!!**

**Thanks for all of your amazing reviews. Seriously, your reviews are so great, they're giving me a big head. I check my email every chance I get, because I can never wait to read another review. I'm glad so many people like this story, but I'll have to work extra hard now to help it live up to its reputation. Keep the reviews coming!**

**I don't own JONAS. And no, fancykidx, I don't write for the show, but thank you so much for the enormous compliment!**

**14 Reasons Why Not**

**Chapter 3: Ice Cream Cones and Photo Booths**

On Friday, the third day of Kevin's bet, he walked down the hallway with Stella and his brothers. His eye had faded overnight to a deep beet red, which, if anything, looked worse than the purple it had been the previous day.

"So, how did miniature golf go?" Stella asked him with a sly grin.

"Could've been worse," Kevin replied, clearly deep in thought. "Stells, did you really rip off Macy's shirt in the middle of the hallway?"

"What?" Joe and Nick cried in unison.

"She told you that?" Stella asked in disbelief.

"So it's true?" Nick asked.

"It was an accident!"

"What did she have on underneath?" Joe asked.

"Don't ask her that!" Nick cried.

"I'm asking as a concerned friend," Joe responded. "Not as a…guy."

"A bra," Stella answered. "But it was a sports bra, which isn't as bad as a regular bra. And I repeat, it was an _accident_."

"Hey, there's Macy," Kevin said, nodding towards the petite girl who stood at her locker at the end of the hallway. The song began playing in his head again, but by now he was kind of used to it. He thought of it now as _her song_. After all, it had been her laugh that first inspired it.

"You'd better not be picturing her in her sports bra," Stella warned Joe, who put up his hands defensively.

"I'm not! Why would you accuse me of such a thing?"

"Hey, Macy!" Nick greeted the brunette.

Macy's attention snapped toward the four of them, before she promptly hid her face in a notebook and slipped around the corner.

"What did you do to scare her away?" Stella asked Kevin, accusingly.

"She's probably just embarrassed because she kissed him last night," Joe explained.

"She did what?" Stella cried. "And you guys just neglected to tell me?"

"Hey, a guy needs his privacy," Nick defended.

"Says the guy who was helping Frankie spy on them through the peephole," Joe responded.

"Chill, Stella, it wasn't a real kiss. It was on the eye." Kevin indicated his beet red left eye. "And it was purely for…medical purposes."

"And it's gone from blue-violet to red-violet, so clearly the healing kiss powers worked," Nick commented.

"So, you're saying Macy kissed you and you felt absolutely nothing?" Stella asked Kevin.

"For the last time," Kevin said, his voice becoming annoyed, "I do not like Macy. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna see if I can catch up with her."

Joe, Nick, and Stella watched Kevin race down the hall and turn the corner shouting, "Macy, wait up!"

"Right," Nick said. "He doesn't like her at all."

xoxoxo

Kevin finally found Macy, hiding in the reference section of the library. He probably wouldn't have found her, had she been a little better at hiding. She was standing against the wall, holding an open atlas in front of her. Kevin considered respecting her need to hide from him, but thought that if he did, she might just hide from him all day. So he gently pushed down the atlas with his fingertips, revealing Macy's embarrassed face.

"Hi, Kevin," she greeted him sheepishly.

"Hi, Macy," he replied, taking the atlas from her hands and closing it.

"I'm really sorry about your eye," she said.

Kevin waved away her apology like it was a tiny moth. "Don't be sorry. You can kiss my eye any time."

Macy blushed. "I meant sorry for hitting it with a golf ball. And a lacrosse stick."

Now it was Kevin's turn to blush. "Oh. Right."

"How's your knee?" she asked.

"Just bruised," Kevin replied, glad to be talking about something besides the kiss.

"Good," Macy responded. "I mean, not good that it's bruised. Just, you know, good that it's not any worse."

Kevin nodded, wracking his brain for something—anything—to say. "So, uh, what are you doing after school today?" he asked finally.

"Going to the mall. I'm in desperate need of a new tennis racket."

"What happened to your old one?" Kevin asked, trying to make conversation.

"It got all bent out of shape when I used it to hit Jerry Valentine over his fat head."

"You did WHAT?"

Macy put her hands up. "It was self defense. The creep tried to grab my butt."

"So you clubbed him with a tennis racket?"

"Well, I would have used a lacrosse stick, but I didn't have one handy. Anyways, I ended up getting suspended from the tennis team for a week and Jerry got off scot-free."

"Maybe they thought being hit over the head with a tennis racket was punishment enough?"

"At least from now on the pig will keep his hands to himself."

Kevin laughed. "You're kind of crazy, you know that?"

Macy grinned. "I have been told that."

"So, do you mind if I tag along?"

"What?" Macy asked, taken by surprise.

"To the mall? I could help you pick out a new racket."

"You want to go tennis racket shopping with me?"

"As long as you promise not to test their strength on my head."

Macy laughed, drawing an "x" over her chest with her finger. "Cross my heart."

"See you after school then?"

Macy nodded. "Definitely."

xoxoxo

"What about this one?" Kevin suggested.

"That's a badminton racket," Macy informed him.

"So that's a no?"

Macy laughed, "A tennis ball would probably bend that easier than Jerry Valentine's head bent my tennis racket."

"Oh. Well, how about this one?" Kevin suggested, holding up a strange racket with a triangular head and a short handle.

"That one's for racquetball."

"Oh. Is this one for tennis?"

"Squash."

"There's actually a sport called squash?"

Macy found the tennis rackets and picked one up to study it. "Good length. Perfect weight. The grip is a little big for my hand, though."

"I never knew there was so much to think about when buying a tennis racket."

Macy put the racket back and picked up another, getting an idea of its weight. "Well, would you play a rock song on just any guitar?"

"Never thought of it that way."

Macy picked up a new racket and gave it a test swing. "This one is perfect." She checked the price. "And it's in my price range."

"Awesome. Why don't you pay for that thing, and then you and I can get some ice cream."

Macy smiled. "That sounds good to me."

Fifteen minutes later, the two were walking down the mall, happily licking their strawberry ice cream from their waffle cones. Kevin insisted on carrying the bag that held Macy's tennis racket for her, although she wasn't sure whether this was out of chivalry or just because he was afraid she might accidentally hit him with it. Either way, she found the gesture simply adorable. Almost as adorable as the cowlick on the front of his curly head. Without meaning to, she let out a giggle.

"What?" Kevin asked.

"What?" Macy replied.

"You laughed."

"Did I?"

"I'm pretty sure."

"What is it about strawberry ice cream?" Macy asked, in attempt to change the subject. "It's sweet, but at the same time, kind of tart. I think that's why I like it so much."

"I like it because it's pink," Kevin replied.

"Another excellent reason," Macy agreed. She forced herself to look away from Kevin, and was immediately glad she did, because she spotted one of her favorite things about the mall. "Ooh, Kevin, look! A photo booth! Want to get our picture taken?"

Kevin made a face. "I don't know…"

"Come on, it'll be fun. And I won't have to photo shop my face into any more pictures of you."

"But my eye," Kevin pointed out, indicating his beet red left eye.

"It'll add character," Macy replied. "Besides, it's not like this is a photo shoot for a magazine cover. You pay a dollar to get four goofy pictures taken with a friend."

"Okay. Why not?"

"Yay!" Macy said, pulling him into the booth.

After getting their four shots—the first of Kevin half-smiling reluctantly and Macy trying to get him to cooperate, the second of Kevin screaming as Macy accidentally jabbed her freezing cold ice cream cone into his neck, the third of Kevin smashing his cone onto her ear in defense, and the fourth of both of them laughing hysterically—Kevin insisted that they pay for another four shots. The two ended up getting twelve more shots after that before they finally called it quits.

When they were done, Kevin crawled out of the booth first, but to Macy's surprise, quickly ducked back in.

"Don't you think we've gotten enough pictures?" Macy asked.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Kevin replied, "but isn't that Jerry Valentine?"

Macy peeked out the booth and saw the boy, wearing an HMA tennis shirt, standing with some of his friends from the tennis team, and sporting a knot on his forehead the size of a tennis ball. He was flirting with some girl in a cheerleader uniform, looking everywhere but at her eyes.

"That's him," Macy confirmed. "But why are we hiding from him?"

"Do you really want to face that guy after what happened?"

"Why shouldn't I?" Macy asked. "It's him who should be afraid to face me."

"Look, I know all of the magazines say that I'm sweet and down to earth," Kevin told her, "but I know guys like Jerry. He can't handle the embarrassment of being beat up by a girl. I'm sure he's eager to find some way to get back at you."

"So I suppose you expect me to just hide in a photo booth for the rest of my life?"

"No. Just until he leaves."

Macy rolled her eyes and grabbed Kevin by the hand, pulling him out of the booth. "Hey Jerry!" she called out.

Jerry and his friends all snapped their attention to Macy and Kevin.

"What are you doing?" Kevin whispered. He noticed that she had forgotten to let go of his hand after pulling him out of the booth, and he quickly decided not to remind her.

"Misa," Jerry replied, coolly.

"I see you've still got that lump," Macy said casually, as if just making conversation.

"Yeah," Jerry replied. "It was a tennis accident."

Macy laughed. "Nice try, Valentine, but I'm pretty sure I did it on purpose."

"Are you trying to egg him on?" Kevin whispered.

"What is she talking about?" the cheerleader asked Jerry.

"She doesn't know what she's talking about," Jerry told the girl through gritted teeth.

"Well I think Pete knows what I'm talking about," Macy responded. "Don't you Petey?"

"Me?" one of Jerry's tennis friends said, looking terrified to be put on the spot.

"You were there, weren't you Pete? You know, when I whacked Jerry on the head with my tennis racket?"

"I-I…" Pete stammered.

Macy turned to the cheerleader. "You should have seen him. His head was this big." She held both of her hands a few inches away from the sides of her head to demonstrate. "And then I hit him."

Kevin couldn't help but laugh.

"You better shut up, Misa," Jerry warned her, "or I'll…"

"Watch what you say, Jer," Macy replied. "I bought a new racket today and I've got it with me right now."

This time even Pete laughed.

"It's not funny," Jerry hissed.

Pete quickly shut up.

"Did she really hit you on the head with a tennis racket?" the cheerleader asked Jerry.

"Of course not," Jerry told her. "Macy's just mad because…because she wanted me, but I turned her down."

"She got mad at you because you're a sexist pig," Kevin cut in.

"That's right," Macy said quickly. "The creep tried to pinch my butt after tennis practice, so I hit him."

"And he cried," Kevin added, which, as far as he knew, wasn't true, but made for a better case against Jerry.

The cheerleader made a disgusted face and took a step back from Jerry. She turned to Macy. "Thanks for warning me about this guy. What a creep. And by Monday morning, every girl at school will know it."

"The girls' gossip chain," Macy said happily, as the cheerleader stomped away. "You've gotta love it."

Jerry glared at Macy before saying to his friends, "Come on guys. Let's get out of here."

The tennis guys followed Jerry, except for Pete, who stayed back for a moment to ask Kevin, "What happened to your eye?"

"He got hit with a golf ball by an adoring fan," Macy explained quickly. "And then a lacrosse stick."

"Actually, it was the lacrosse stick, then the golf ball," Kevin corrected her.

"Oh, yeah."

Pete stared at the two, wide-eyed. "I'm glad I'm not famous," he commented.

"It has its ups and downs," Kevin replied.

Pete turned to leave, but paused and turned his head to Macy one last time. "By the way, Misa, excellent hit." With that, he rushed off to catch up with his friends.

Macy smiled. "I always knew I liked that guy."

Kevin nodded. "Pete's good people."

xoxoxo

"What's all over your neck?" Nick asked Kevin when he got home.

"Ice cream," Kevin replied.

"You know it's supposed to go in your mouth, right?" Joe reminded him, casually holding out the yellow notepad and a pen to his brother.

Kevin smiled and patted the pocket, which held his copies of the photo booth pictures he'd taken with Macy. "Today was just a crazy day."

Grabbing the notepad from Joe, he wrote: "**Reason # 3: She's crazy.**" Then he grabbed a towel and headed for the shower, whistling _her song_ himself, and thinking that maybe crazy was not so bad after all.

**Hope you enjoyed! I think I'll be able to upload the next chapter tomorrow, but I don't know when I'll have access to the internet after that. Please review, even if you didn't like it.**

**Next Chapter: Gossip and Guitars**

**Everyone enjoy the fireworks!**

**--Bubbles**


	4. Gossip and Guitars

**Thank you so much for your reviews! I'm glad so many people liked the last chapter. I wasn't planning on putting Jerry in any more of the story, but now I want to because a few people want to see him again. And Pete, of course (because he's "good people", ask anyone). I couldn't fit them into this chapter, but you will definitely be seeing them again. Hope you all enjoy this chapter. Please review!**

**14 Reasons Why Not**

**Chapter 4: Gossip and Guitars**

Macy's wakeup call came at 7 a.m., five hours before she usually woke up on a Saturday morning. It came in the form of a loudly blaring JONAS song emitting from her cell phone. She groaned. Stella's ringtone.

She flipped open her phone and grumbled, "What?"

"Macy!" Stella cried. "I just got an alert from the girls' gossip chain. How could you not tell me you're going out with Kevin?"

"Because I'm not," Macy replied, trying to clear her foggy head.

"Tessa Bartlett said that she saw it with her own eyes."

"Tessa who?"

Even over the phone, Macy could see Stella's annoyance at her ignorance. "She's only the head cheerleader, Mace."

Suddenly, the details of the previous day came flooding back to her. The cheerleader at the mall. "Wait, now I remember."

"Remember? So it's true? You're dating a JONAS? How could you forget something like that?"

"I'm not dating Kevin," Macy replied. "It's just a rumor. We were hanging out at the mall yesterday, and someone probably just assumed we were going out."

"Why would they assume that?"

"Well, we might have been…holding hands."

"What? More details, Misa!"

Macy rubbed her eyes. "Stella, I can't talk about this with you over the phone at seven in the morning."

"Right. I'm on my way over."

"Stella?"

"Yeah, Mace?"

"Could you take about five hours to get here?"

xoxoxo

Kevin was woken up by his brothers at about the same time that Macy was woken, but his wakeup call came in a slightly different form.

"Keh-vi-in!" Joe sang, jumping on Kevin's bed.

"Wake up!" Nick shouted, shaking him.

Frankie marched back and forth next to Kevin's bed, crashing together a pair of cymbals.

"Stop it!" Kevin cried. "I'm awake! I'm awake! Who's touching my face?"

Joe pinched his brother's cheek affectionately. "That'd be me. By the way, apparently after beet red comes olive green. Your eye looks disgusting."

Kevin pushed Nick and Joe off of him and sat up. "Frankie, enough with the cymbals!"

"We just got a call from Stella," Nick said. "Way to go, man."

"Dude, how could you not tell us?" Joe cried.

"Tell you what?" Kevin asked.

"As if you don't know," Joe replied.

"Even I know," Frankie put in.

"How do you know?" Nick asked Frankie.

Frankie shrugged. "I'm up pretty high in the girls' gossip chain."

"I still don't know what we're talking about," Kevin said.

"We're talking about you losing the bet," Nick replied.

"I lost the bet?" Kevin said, confused.

"Dude, if you're going out with Macy, that kind of proves you have a thing for her," Joe pointed out.

"I'm not going out with her."

All three of his brothers stared at him, shocked.

"The girls' gossip chain has never been wrong," Frankie said.

"Well now it has. I'm not going out with Macy."

"Then why would Tessa Bartlett tell Stella that you are?" Joe asked.

"She probably just thought we were. Yesterday at the mall, some guy was giving Macy grief," Kevin explained. "Well, she was actually giving him more grief than he was giving her, but he deserved it. But then he got one up on her, so I stepped in and stood up for Macy."

"Did she win?" Frankie asked, enthralled by the story.

"Oh, she won," Kevin assured them. "Let's just say that girls will steer clear of Jerry Valentine from now on."

"Jerry Valentine?" Frankie repeated. "The tennis player with a big head who tried to grab a girl's butt and then got beaten up by said girl?"

"That's the one. And said girl is Macy. Let me tell you, she is one tough girl. Don't mess with her."

"Why can't you just admit that you like her, dude?" Joe asked.

"Because I don't," Kevin replied. "Can't a guy and a girl just be good friends?"

"No," Nick replied. "They can't. Look at Joe and Stella."

Joe was about to object, when he was interrupted by his ringing cell phone.

He flipped it open. "Hey Stella. Yeah. I know. I know. Right. Okay."

"What does she want?" Nick asked.

Joe replied by grabbing Nick by the wrist. "Excuse us for a minute," he told Kevin and Frankie, dragging Nick out of the room.

Kevin watched his brothers leave the room, rolled over in his bed, and fell back asleep.

xoxoxo

At exactly noon, Macy got her second wakeup call. This time, Stella was in her room, shaking her awake.

"Get dressed," Stella instructed. "We'll talk on the way."

"The way to where?" Macy asked, rubbing her eyes.

"To the Lucas house."

Macy gasped. "We're going to their house?"

"I called an emergency meeting of JONAS," Stella explained.

"And I'm involved?"

"Well, not really. And neither is Kevin. I'm only going to talk to Joe and Nick. But I don't see why you shouldn't tag along and hang with Kevin while I talk to the others."

"Okay," Macy replied, unsure that Stella's intentions were as pure as she claimed they were. But she wasn't one to distrust her best friend.

xoxoxo

"Hi Nick. Hi Joe," Macy nervously greeted the two brothers when she and Stella arrived at the Lucas's firehouse.

"Hey Macy," Nick greeted her. "Kevin's upstairs. You can just go on up."

"Right," Macy said nervously, taking a deep breath before making her way up the stairs.

When she reached the top of the stairs, she found Kevin sitting on a stool with a guitar in front of a music stand. She smiled when she got a look at his eye. She swore that it was determined to turn every color of the rainbow before it went back to its usual color. Kevin didn't notice her standing there, and was playing a few notes at a time and then writing them down on a paper on the music stand.

"Writing a song?" Macy asked.

Kevin jumped, startled. "Macy! I didn't know you were coming here." He looked down at the sheet music he had been writing on. "Actually, it sort of wrote itself in my head over the past few days. I'm just trying to get it down on paper."

"Can you play it for me?" Macy requested.

"It's not really finished yet," Kevin replied. "But I can play you what I have so far."

"I'd love to hear it."

"Well, pull up a chair."

Macy grinned and took a seat on a stool beside Kevin. His fingers moved expertly across the strings as he played the song. It was not too fast, but not too slow and the sound wasn't hard core, but not too soft either. It was…

"Just right," Macy said aloud.

"Really?"

"It's smooth and…joyful," Macy replied. "It reminds me of…"

"A laugh?" Kevin finished.

"Exactly."

"Good. Because it was inspired by yours."

Macy looked at Kevin, wide-eyed. Kevin blushed. "I didn't mean to tell you that."

Macy stared at him in silence for a few more seconds before she realized that he was waiting for some kind of a response.

"Does it have lyrics?" she asked, finally snapping out of the trance-like state she had been in.

"Not yet," Kevin answered, glad for the change in subject. "Nick's the one with the way with words."

"But you have a good heart," Macy replied. "Anything that comes from your heart will end up being beautiful."

"That's what my mom told me when I had to write a poem in the fourth grade. But the teacher gave me a D on it."

Macy laughed. "What kind of teacher gives a ten-year-old a D on a creative assignment?"

"A mean one."

"Well, I'm sure the poem was lovely," Macy told him.

"Actually, it was pretty terrible. Even Nick laughed when he read it, and Nick's laughed, like, six times in his entire life."

"Okay, I won't argue anymore. But if you do write lyrics to this song, you'll tell me, right?"

"Of course," Kevin assured her. "You'll be the first to know."

"Good."

There was a brief moment of silence as Kevin looked from Macy to his guitar, then back at Macy. "Do you want to learn it?" he asked her.

xoxoxo

"We are so close to getting those two together," Stella told Joe and Nick.

"We know," Nick replied. "You know. I know. Joe knows. I think even Frankie knows."

"The only people who don't know it are Kevin and Macy," Joe finished.

"Which is why we have to make them realize it," Stella said.

"How?" Joe asked. "We already set them up at lunch together. We set them up at the putt-putt course. Stells, they're allegedly dating and they're still both oblivious to the whole thing."

Stella sighed. "How can two people be so obviously into each other and everyone realize it but them?"

Nick raised an eyebrow. "I don't know Stella and Joe. How can they?"

"I don't know what you're implying," Joe said, pointing a finger at his brother, "but I must remind you that we're here to discuss Kevin and Macy."

Stella put her hands on her head. "How are we supposed to think with that noise coming from upstairs?"

"Yeah, what is that?" Joe asked. "That can't be Kevin's playing."

xoxoxo

"How was that?" Macy asked.

"Not bad," Kevin answered his voice unnaturally high-pitched. "Okay, it was bad. But I know you can do better."

The two had moved down to the floor. Macy sat cross-legged with the guitar in her arms, resting on her knee. Kevin sat close behind her, his head almost resting on her shoulder, and his callused hands guiding her delicate ones across the strings.

"I'm just musically challenged," Macy concluded, hanging her head in defeat.

"No you're not," Kevin replied. "You're just trying too hard."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you remember when we went mini golfing, and my ball went over the hole every time because I kept swinging too hard?"

Macy nodded.

"Well, you're swinging too hard. You just need to relax and hit the ball a little more gently, so it can roll into the hole."

Macy smiled. "That's a great analogy."

"What analogy? I was just explaining how to play a guitar in terms you'd understand by comparing it to golf."

Macy wasn't sure whether he was serious or not, so she decided to drop it. "Should we try this again?"

"Okay. Put your fingers here," Kevin instructed, guiding her hand. "And push on the strings. Good. Now stroke."

With Kevin's right hand gently holding her wrist, Macy strummed on the guitar. Finally, a pleasant sound rang from the instrument.

"Was that good?" Macy asked, turning her head to face him.

Kevin's voice nearly got caught in his throat as he realized just how close their faces were. "You're…_it_ was beautiful. I think…I think you have a little bit of…gold in your eyes."

Macy, too, was aware of how dangerously close their faces were. She found herself desperately hoping that they would come just a little closer. And then she found it actually happening. She wasn't sure whether she was moving toward him or he was moving toward her. Or both. But it was happening.

And then they heard three sets of footsteps stampeding up the stairs. Kevin quickly pulled his head back and released Macy's hands, to her great disappointment.

"Guys, we heard all the noise. What is going on in…?" Nick's voice trailed off as he reached the top of the stairs and took in the scene before him. Even after Kevin pulled away from Macy, they were still close.

"Woah," Joe said simply, coming to an abrupt halt behind Nick.

"Are we interrupting something?" Stella asked, stopping behind Joe.

"N-no," Kevin stammered, standing up and brushing off his legs. Macy looked slightly hurt at his answer. She certainly felt like the three were interrupting something, but if Kevin didn't think so, she wasn't going to say anything.

"Are you sure?" Joe asked. "Because this is a pretty big room. Plenty of space for the both of you without having to huddle together."

"There was nothing going on," Kevin promised them.

"Kevin was just showing me how to play," Macy stated, her emotion unreadable. Kevin wished he knew what she was thinking, because he certainly didn't know what to think himself.

"Well, we can leave you two alone if you…Ow!" Joe was interrupted by a sharp jab in the side from Stella.

Stella nodded toward Macy. Joe and Nick both looked at her to find that she was not amused by Joe's teasing. On the contrary, the girl looked positively crushed.

"Hey, I was just kidding," Joe said, quickly.

"It's okay," Macy said numbly, standing up and carefully setting Kevin's guitar back on its stand. "I have to go now."

Although she was trying to stay calm, Macy was clearly in a hurry to leave. Shoving past Nick, Joe, and Stella, she rushed down the stairs. Stella shot Joe and Nick a worried look before hurrying after her, shouting, "Macy, wait!"

"What just happened?" Joe whispered to Nick so that Kevin couldn't hear him.

Nick watched Kevin retrieve the yellow notepad and write something down on it. Kevin then dropped the notepad on the floor, picked up his guitar, and began to play loudly. Nick and Joe then walked across the room to where Kevin had dropped the list and read what he had written. "**Reason # 4: She's too emotional.**"

"But what was she emotional about?" Joe asked quietly enough that Kevin could not hear him over his guitar.

"Isn't it obvious?" Nick replied. "We asked what was going on, and Kevin said nothing."

"So?"

"Well, apparently, Macy thought it was something."

**Okay, I truly hate to leave you with an ending like this. It really kills me. But it must be done. I don't know when I'll be able to update again, but I will as soon as I possibly can. Please review, even if you hated it. But I really hope you didn't hate it.**

**Next Chapter: Smart Girls and Stubborn Boys**


	5. Smart Girls and Stubborn Boys

**I'm soooo sorry that I wasn't able to update sooner. But here is the chapter, finally. Thank you for reviewing! You are all super awesome. I hope this chapter was worth the wait.**

**I don't own JONAS.**

**14 Reasons Why Not**

**Chapter 5: Smart Girls and Stubborn Boys**

"Macy, please tell me what's wrong," Stella begged her best friend.

"What makes you think anything is wrong?"

The two girls were sitting in Macy's mother's thrift shop, which was, for the most part, empty at the moment. The only customer was a white-haired old lady who had been walking around the store for two hours with an empty basket, apparently still hoping to find something useful. Macy and Stella sat at the front desk, talking quietly and sipping their ice cold Thai teas.

"I don't know, Macy," Stella replied, swirling the ice around in her mug with her spoon. "I think you running out of the Lucas's house crying yesterday might have been the first sign."

"I didn't run and I wasn't crying."

"Well you walked uncommonly fast and you were on the verge of tears."

Macy sighed. "I don't really want to talk about it."

"Of course you don't. That's why I have to coax it out of you," Stella replied. "Look, Macy, I'll make this easy for you. I'm not gonna leave you alone until you talk to me. So you can tell me what's wrong now, or you can tell me two hours from now when you get too tired of me bugging you to bother hiding it anymore."

"Fine, I'll tell you."

Stella nodded impatiently.

"Okay. Yesterday, before you, Nick, and Joe went into the room, when Kevin was showing me how to play the guitar…"

"Go on," Stella urged.

"He almost kissed me. Or I thought he did."

"Macy, that's great!"

"Well he didn't seem to think so. Or he did, but he's just ashamed of me," Macy replied. "I can't quite decide which I prefer."

"Miss," the old lady said, interrupting the girls' conversation. "Do you sell umbrellas here?"

"Yes Ma'am," Macy replied. "We sell pretty much everything here."

"But I'm looking for a yellow umbrella with strawberries painted onto it. Do you have one like that?"

Macy wrinkled her nose. "I don't think so."

The woman frowned and continued wandering around the shop.

"I wouldn't worry, Macy," Stella said. "Kevin's not ashamed of you, and he definitely likes you. He's just…shy."

"Shy?"

"Kevin's always been afraid of change," Stella explained. "You just have to give him some time."

"Time for what?"

"Time to admit to himself that he likes you. He has to do that before he can admit it to you or anyone else."

"I'm not sure I have that kind of time," Macy replied, coolly, taking a sip of her tea.

"Well there aren't any rules against our hurrying him along, now are there?" Stella said with a cunning smile.

"If you don't mind my input," the old woman cut in, "I would move on if I were you. Take it from someone who knows. Life is too short to wait around for stubborn boys."

"Do you mind?" Stella asked the old woman. "If you're not going to buy anything, you're perfectly welcome to leave."

"Well!" the woman said, spinning on her heels and marching toward the door as aggressively as one can with artificial hips.

Just as the old woman was about to open the door to leave, it was opened by somebody else from outside. A young man stood at the door in a hooded sweatshirt, his hood pulled tightly over his head and aviator sunglasses covering most of his face.

"I know you!" the woman exclaimed, pulling the shades off of his face, revealing his dark green eyes, one of which was decorated with a yellowing bruise. "You're from that musical group! I saw you on the television."

"Kevin?" Macy cried, choking on her tea.

"What are you doing here?" Stella asked, hitting her friend on the back. Macy coughed and wiped her mouth on the back of her hand.

The woman looked from Kevin to the girls, and then back at Kevin. "This is the boy you were talking about?" She looked Kevin up and down. "I take back what I said."

The woman stepped past Kevin and through the door. Kevin quickly locked the door behind him.

He turned to the girls. "Did that old lady just check me out?"

"I think she did," Stella answered, a smile forming on her lips.

"And she took back what she said? What was she talking about?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Stella replied, stubbornly.

The three stood in awkward silence for a moment before Kevin spoke again. "Could I talk to Macy?" he asked. "Alone?"

Macy was about to say no, but before she could, Stella nodded and hurried out the door.

"Hi," Kevin said, once they were alone.

"Hi," Macy uttered, refusing to look at him.

"Look," Kevin said, "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings yesterday."

"Okay," Macy answered, simply. "Thank you for being sorry. Are we done?"

"I wasn't trying to hurt you," Kevin told her.

"You weren't trying very hard not to either."

"Macy, please," Kevin pleaded. "I really want to be your friend."

Macy felt as if she'd been slapped, but she pretended not to show it. "I want to be friends too," she whispered.

Of course she wanted to be friends with Kevin. Who wouldn't? He was sweet. He was funny. And he had those olive green eyes and that melt-your-heart smile. Everything a girl looked for in a…friend.

"Can we just put this all behind us?"

"Okay," Macy agreed. "No problem."

"So we're good?"

Macy shook her head.

"W-we're not good?"

Kevin watched Macy nervously as she stood up from where she sat at the register, picked up her mug, and walked around the desk toward him. She took the final step toward him and calmly poured her ice cold Thai tea down his shirt.

Kevin cried out in shock and took a step back. "What was that for?"

Macy grinned. "Now we're good."

"Yeah?" Kevin said, too shocked to react. "Well…good."

"Sorry about your shirt," Macy apologized. "I guess I hadn't put it all behind me yet."

"I can see that," Kevin replied, wringing out his soaking shirt.

"But I'm over it now," she assured him. "I think that pretty much made up for it."

"Good," Kevin said, holding out his arms toward her. "But now I think you owe me a hug."

Macy nodded. "I think I can oblige."

Kevin wrapped Macy in a cold, damp, and slightly sweet-smelling hug. Normally, a shirt soaked in Thai tea would make a hug uncomfortable, but Macy didn't even mind Kevin's wet T-shirt. She rested her head against his sticky chest and Kevin hugged her tighter and rested his chin on top of her head.

"You smell good," Kevin mumbled. "Or whatever you poured on me smells good. I can't really tell which. What is this stuff anyways?"

"Thai tea."

"I don't know what that is, but I hope it doesn't stain. Stella's gonna be mad."

"Well unlike you," Macy replied, "I'm not afraid of Stella. You can let me deal with her."

"I appreciate that," Kevin said, pulling away. "I should really get going. Let you get back to your job."

Macy nodded, trying not to look too disappointed.

He took a deep breath before making his way to the door, as if reluctant to leave.

"Kevin, can I ask you something?"

Kevin turned around. "Yeah, Macy?"

"Yesterday, when you were showing me how to play the song…"

"Uh huh?"

"Were you going to kiss me?"

Kevin tried his best to keep his voice low, which resulted in his sounding more like James Earle Jones than Kevin Lucas. "Of course not."

"Uh huh," Macy replied, smiling. She knew he was lying, and he knew she knew he was lying, but they both pretended that he was telling the truth.

Kevin slipped his sunglasses back on before heading out the door. When he stepped outside, he found Stella waiting outside the shop.

"Were you waiting out here the whole time?" he asked her, instinctively crossing his arms over his chest to hide his stained shirt.

"Duh," Stella replied. "How else was I supposed to hear what you two were saying?"

xoxoxo

"And then what happened? Yeah? What did they say? Uh huh. Uh huh. He did? Really?"

Nick sat on the edge of his seat eagerly as he listened to Joe's end of his phone conversation with Stella. "What's she saying?" he asked.

"Shh," Joe replied. "No, not you. Nick. Of course not…Okay, then what happened? What did he say? But did she know he was lying? Yeah…Okay…Talk to you later, Stella."

"What happened with Kevin and Macy?" Nick asked after Joe hung up.

"He tried to kiss her," Joe answered.

Nick's eyes widened. "At the thrift shop?"

Joe shook his head. "Yesterday."

Nick nodded. "That explains a lot. How much longer do you suppose he can last now?"

"Two days. Tops."

"I think you're underestimating Kevin," Frankie said, walking into the living room and playing with a yo-yo. "He's a pretty big chicken."

"Hey Frankie," Joe greeted his little brother. "What's the scoop?"

"The head cheerleader is dating a guy from the tennis team who she met in the mall," Frankie replied.

"Not Jerry Valentine," Nick said, making a face.

"Our school has a tennis team?" Joe asked in surprise.

"No," Frankie said to Nick, ignoring Joe. "Pete Banting."

"Never heard of him," Nick said.

"Pete's going out with a cheerleader?" Kevin asked, walking into the room. "Good for him."

"When did you get here?" Nick asked Kevin.

"About two minutes ago," Kevin answered, dropping the yellow notepad onto the coffee table in front of his brothers. "And I added something else to your list."

All three of his brothers leaned forward to read the yellow paper.

"**Reason # 5: She can tell when I'm lying.**"

"Care to explain that one?" Nick asked.

"Nope. Gotta go change my shirt."

Joe, Nick, and Frankie watched Kevin jog up the stairs, and heard a guitar being played loudly soon afterwards.

"Two days," Joe assured his brothers. "Tops."

**Thanks for reading. Hope you all enjoyed. I should be able to update by Sunday.**

**Next Chapter: Motivation and Competition**


	6. Motivation and Competition

**Wow! So many reviews for chapter 5. I've been dying for a chance to update, and at long last (three whole days!) chapter 6 is finally here. I hope you enjoy it, but even if you don't please review!**

**I don't own JONAS.**

**14 Reasons Why Not**

**Chapter 6: Motivation and Competition**

When Macy arrived at her locker Monday morning, she was surprised to find seven girls from various sports teams she belonged to waiting there for her.

"Hey guys," Macy said, suspiciously. She'd never been this popular with girls before. Other than Stella, most of her friends were guys.

"Is it true?" Tiffany from the basketball team asked.

"Is what true?" Macy asked, uncomfortable with this surprise interrogation.

"Are you really dating Kevin Lucas?" Amber from the swim team questioned.

Macy rolled her eyes. "Come on, ladies. What's the big deal? He's just a guy. I thought girls at this school were used to having three rock stars around."

Even she couldn't believe she had just said that. She was, after all, JONAS's biggest fan. And Kevin was far from _just a guy_.

"So it's true?" Becca from the volleyball team said.

Macy shook her head. "No, it's not true. I don't even know where you got the idea."

At that moment, Kevin strolled up, seemingly oblivious to the crowd of girls surrounding Macy's locker. "Guess who has two tickets to the exclusive grand opening of the Mad Galaxy amusement park, and is taking you with him?"

Macy gasped. "You're taking me to the Mad Galaxy grand opening with you?"

Kevin nodded. "All the rides we want absolutely free."

"Kevin, that's awesome!" Macy cried, throwing her arms around his neck.

Kevin hugged her back, closing his eyes and breathing in the fumes of her neck, before reopening his eyes and noticing all of the girls standing around them and staring wide-eyed.

"Macy, we're being watched," he whispered.

Macy groaned and released Kevin from her hug attack, turning to face the girls at her locker. "Look, we're not dating. Okay?"

Looking disappointed, the girls dispersed, just as Joe and Nick arrived.

"This amusement park is gonna be sick," Joe was telling Nick. "There's this one roller coaster I heard about. The Vomit Comet. It's supposed to be the biggest, fastest, and most-likely-to-kill-you roller coaster in the world."

"I don't think a roller coaster has ever actually killed anyone," Nick replied. "Hey Kevin. Hey Macy."

"Hi guys," Macy gushed. Even after becoming close to Kevin, JONAS's biggest fan still felt star-struck around the band.

"Who were all of those girls?" Joe asked.

"That was quite a crowd," Nick commented.

"I know," Macy agreed. "I feel kind of famous."

As if on cue, Stella came bulleting toward them, waving a magazine in the air and crying, "Macy, you're in the tabloids!"

"I'm what?"

Stella held up the _Star Stalker_ magazine she held in her hand. "Haven't you read this?"

Macy looked confused. "No. Why?"

"Stella, those magazines are total garbage," Nick said. "They just exploit people's personal lives to make money using lies and half-truths."

"What does it say?" Joe asked, eagerly.

Nick rolled his eyes.

Stella cleared her throat and began to read. "'_Is Kevin Lucas of the teen rock band JONAS off the market? It looks that way. Lucas has been spotted in numerous places with the same mystery girl, pictured below. The two were photographed sharing a tender moment at a miniature golf course, enjoying ice cream together at a mall, and kissing good night on Lucas's front porch_.'"

"Tender moment at the mini golf course?" Joe repeated. "Let me see."

"People have been taking pictures of me?" Macy squeaked, feeling violated in the most personal way.

"Wait, there's more," Stella said. "'_But the new relationship may already be on the rocks. The mystery girl was seen entering the Lucas home on Saturday afternoon with JONAS stylist Stella Malone, and spotted again, not thirty minutes later, in a rush to leave. Who is this mystery girl, and is this the end of a short love story?_'"

Macy felt sick. "I may never go outdoors again."

"But you have to," Kevin reminded her. "Tonight is the Mad Galaxy grand opening, remember?"

"Of course," Macy said with a fake smile, ten times less excited about it than she was five minutes earlier.

"Speaking of the Mad Galaxy grand opening," Nick said. "The park gave us each two tickets. Stella, do you want to go with me?"

"What?" Stella, Joe, Kevin, and Macy said in unison.

"_You're_ asking Stella to the grand opening?" Joe asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, why not?" Nick replied. "I mean, she's my friend, isn't she?"

"Yeah," Stella replied, still looking stunned and somewhat disappointed. "I'd love to go with you, Nick."

"You would?" Joe said.

"You would?" Macy and Kevin repeated in unison.

"Yeah. I mean, why wouldn't I want to go to the grand opening with Nick?" Stella asked, looking longingly at Joe.

"Great," Nick said, giving his friends what could almost be called a smile. "See you all later."

Nick strolled away, leaving the girls and his brothers too stunned to say a word.

xoxoxo

Between first and second periods, Kevin cornered Nick in the hallway.

"Nick, what's wrong with you?" he demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Nick insisted.

"How could you do that to Joe?"

"I didn't do anything to Joe."

"Don't play stupid. You know Joe likes Stella."

Nick nodded. "I know Joe likes Stella. You know he likes her. In fact, the entire world knows it except for him."

Kevin wrinkled his forehead. "What are you getting at?"

Nick rolled his eyes. "Look, Joe's never gonna realize how much he likes Stella without a little motivation. Motivation in the form of," he indicated himself, "competition."

Kevin gasped. "Nicholas Lucas, that's sneaky and dishonest. Good work."

xoxoxo

"Macy, will you stop doing that?"

"Doing what?" Macy asked, looking over her shoulder nervously, clutching her hockey stick like she was expecting someone to jump out and attack her.

"_That_," Stella said. "Looking around like you're being watched or something."

"Sorry, Stella. I can't help it," Macy replied. "I'm a little paranoid after finding out that I'm being _secretly photographed_ every time I go out. This must be what Kevin, Nick, and Joe feel like all the time."

"No, I think they're used to it by now," Stella said.

"Well, it shouldn't be legal," Macy commented. "It's…creepy. It's…an invasion of privacy, that's what it is."

"Well I don't think you need to worry about that in the school hallway," Stella assured her. "No one is going to take you picture here."

At that moment, a school photographer stepped in front of them aiming his camera in their direction. "One for the yearbook?" he requested.

Macy shrieked and instinctively whacked him in the shin with her hockey stick. When he hunched over in pain, she knocked the camera out of his hands. Stella dove to the ground and caught the camera before it shattered against the floor.

"I'm sorry," Macy cried, dropping her hockey stick and kneeling down to help the boy up.

Stella handed his camera back to him. "That was just bad timing."

"If you didn't want your picture taken, you could have just said so," the photographer said, hurrying away before any more damage could be done.

"That's why you really need to learn to relax," Stella told Macy.

"You're right," Macy agreed. "I need to chill."

"Good," Stella said. "Now let's talk about more important matters. Like, why did _Nick_, of all people have to ask me to go with him to the Wild Galaxy opening? Does that mean he likes me? I mean, Nick's a nice guy and all, but I really don't feel that way about him. And what if Joe thinks I like Nick? Oh my gosh, Macy! Do you think Joe is jealous? Wouldn't that be cool?"

Macy rolled her eyes. "Nothing would thrill me more."

xoxoxo

"Joe?"

"Yes, Kevin?"

"You do realize we're going to an amusement park, right?"

"Yes, Kevin."

"So, uh, why are you all dressed up?"

Joe stood before his brothers in a pair of crisp blue trousers and a vest over a button-up shirt, smartly accessorized with a red scarf. Nick and Kevin, on the other hand, were dressed down in jeans and T-shirts.

"Is there something wrong with trying to look, I don't know, better than Nick?" Joe defended himself.

Nick smiled. "Nothing at all. I think I heard the doorbell. That's probably the girls. I'll get it."

"I'll go with you!" Kevin volunteered, jumping up.

Joe looked in the mirror and frowned, adjusting his scarf. "I'll be down in a minute."

Nick and Kevin slid down their fire poles and raced to the door. Kevin reached it first and pulled it open to welcome Macy and Stella.

"Hey Stella," he greeted his friend. "Hi Macy. You look great."

He wasn't sure why he said it. Other than the fact that it was true, of course. But she really looked no different than usual. She was dressed as casually as he was, in jeans and a T-shirt, her hair pulled back into a low ponytail. But for some reason, she seemed to be…glowing. Stella, on the other hand, was as dressed up as Joe, as if she too had forgotten that they were only going to an amusement park, where her perfectly placed hair would quickly become a tangled mess.

"Come on in," Nick welcomed them.

The girls stepped inside, and Stella looked around. "Where's Joe?"

"Upstairs primping," Kevin answered.

Stella nodded and bounded up the stairs. When she reached the top, she found Joe still adjusting his scarf in front of the mirror. Joe spotted Stella's reflection in the mirror and spun around to face her.

"You look nice," she commented. The tone of her voice seemed to suggest that this was not a good thing.

"So do you," Joe replied. "Really dressed up just to go to an amusement park with _Nick_."

"So, is this," Stella pointed her hand up and down Joe's ensemble, "all for a girl?"

"Psh," Joe said, crossing his arms defiantly. "You mean yourself?"

"No," Stella answered, crossing her arms in the same fashion. "I meant do you have a _date_ tonight?"

"Oh. No. I don't."

Stella tried not to smile. "So, uh, who'd you give your extra ticket to?"

"Frankie."

Stella's face broke into a grin. "That's sweet."

Joe shrugged. "Well, he really wanted to go, and there was no one I really wanted to go with…"

"We should get going," Stella interrupted him. "They're waiting for us downstairs."

Joe nodded and stepped forward, offering Stella his arm, which she gladly took. "Let's get out of here."

xoxoxo

"Joe, can I ride the Vomit Comet?" Frankie begged.

"No, Frankie. You'd have to be at least five inches taller than you are."

"Why don't you ride on the rocket ships?" Stella suggested.

"Because they're boring. I wanna go on the good rides!"

"You know what looks fun?" Kevin said to Frankie. Macy admired the way the oldest Lucas spoke to the youngest. As if he was an equal, and not just a kid brother. "Saturn's Rings. And there's no height limit, so even you and Macy can ride it."

"Hey!" Macy said, as Kevin received high-five's from Joe and Nick.

"Sorry, Macy," Kevin apologized. "It was just dying to be said."

"You're forgiven," Macy replied, crossing her arms. "But no more short jokes, or you'll get a tennis racket to your head tomorrow and it won't be an accident."

Kevin laughed. "So, what do you say, Mace? Want to ride Saturn's Rings with Frankie and me? The seats are made for three."

Macy nodded. "Okay. You up for it, Frankie?"

"It's no Vomit Comet," Frankie replied. "But it will do."

The three of them took off, leaving Joe, Nick, and Stella standing alone.

"Looks like it's just the three of us now, surrounded by outer space inspired amusement park rides," Nick commented. "So, Stella, do you want to see if that roller coaster is really as vomit-inducing as its name suggests?"

"Are you serious?" Stella asked, wrinkling her nose.

"Dude, she doesn't want to do that," Joe told Nick, smacking his brother's arm. "Look at her. Do you really think she wants to ride something that could ruin her clothes or mess up her hair, which she clearly put a lot of work into?"

"Thank you, Joe," Stella said. "It's good to hear that _some_ guys notice the trouble I go to."

"Silly me," Nick said, with the slightest hint of a smile. "What was I thinking? What kind of ride would Stella like to go on then, Joe?"

Joe looked around thoughtfully. "There," he said, pointing to a tunnel of love ride entitled _Ride on a Star_.

"Ah, good choice," Nick commented. "Well, I would go on that ride with Stella, since I did invite her here with us, but it's on water, and I get sea sick. As of today. So, Joe, why don't you take Stella for a ride on a star while I test out that Vomit Comet?"

Stella grinned and pulled Joe toward the ride. Joe looked confused, as if he was not sure exactly what had just happened, but was not about to object. Nick did an about-face with a smooth twist of his ankles and nonchalantly brushed an invisible piece of dust from his shoulder.

"My work here is done."

xoxoxo

"So, Frankster, what did you think?" Kevin asked his little brother.

"That was so much fun!" Frankie said, enthusiastically. "Can we go on another ride?"

"Ask me again in ten minutes," Kevin replied. "I know we're standing on the ground now, but my stomach is still on the ride."

"I'll go on a ride with him," Nick said, walking up to the three of them.

"Hey, Nick. Where are Stella and Joe?" Macy questioned.

"Taking a ride on a star. My guess is that we won't see them for the rest of the day."

"Nice work," Kevin commented.

"So, now that I'm free of those two, why don't I go on some rides with Frankie while you two do…whatever."

"Let's go!" Frankie cried, pulling Nick toward a ride.

"Take my bag!" Nick told Kevin, tossing his brother his backpack as Frankie dragged him away.

Nick and Frankie were quickly out of sight, leaving Macy and Kevin alone together for the first time since the previous day in the thrift shop.

"So, now what?" Kevin asked, awkwardly, slinging Nick's backpack over his shoulder.

"You want to try the Vomit Comet?" Macy suggested.

Kevin hesitated. "Well…"

"What's wrong?" Macy asked, taking his hand in a sudden act of bravery.

Kevin's stomach started revolving around his intestines like the moons of Jupiter on the ride Frankie had just dragged Nick onto.

"Kevin?" Macy said.

"I'm…uh…"

"You're what?"

"I'm afraid of roller coasters."

"Is that all? You don't have to go on the ride if you don't want to."

"But you can go on it," Kevin said. "I'll wait for you."

"It's okay," Macy assured him. "Roller coasters aren't much fun alone."

"Sorry," Kevin apologized.

"Don't be. It's okay to be afraid of things. I'm scared of stuff too."

"You? I doubt it."

"I am," Macy insisted. "For example, I'm scared of moths. Porcupines. Lightning. And since this morning I've been afraid of getting my picture taken."

Kevin smiled. "Does that mean no more photo booths?"

"Not for a few more days at least."

Kevin was about to reply, when he was approached by a boy who looked about Macy's age, with sandy blond hair and a tall, athletic build.

"Hey," the guy greeted them. "You're Kevin from JONAS, right?"

"That's right," Kevin said, smiling and reaching out his free hand for a friendly handshake.

The guy accepted the handshake and said, "My step sister in Arizona is your biggest fan."

"Second biggest," Macy piped in.

"My mistake," the guy replied with a friendly smile. He turned back to Kevin, pulling a digital camera out of his pocket. "Would it be alright if I got a picture with you for my step sister?"

"Camera!" Macy cried in panic, instinctively kicking the guy in the shin, knocking him to the ground.

"It's okay, Macy!" Kevin cried, letting go of her hand and kneeling down to help the guy up.

The stranger looked at Macy like she was crazy for a minute, before blinking his eyes hard and doing a double take.

"Macy? Macy Misa?"

Macy studied the stranger. "Do I know you?"

"It's me, Justin!" he replied.

This time it was Macy's turn to do a double take. "Justin Weiss? I haven't seen you since eighth grade, when we went on that awful date!"

Kevin's first impression of this guy had been a good one, but this new information came as a shock to him. Now he was sure that he didn't like this Justin character.

Justin laughed. "Well, everyone's first date is awful," he replied. "But I see you're doing well for yourself now. You look great. And you're dating a rock star?"

"Oh, no," Macy replied, a little too quickly for Kevin's liking. "We're just friends."

"Oh," Justin said, looking embarrassed. "I just assumed…"

"It's okay," Macy said quickly.

"So, how do you like this amusement park? Pretty great, right?"

"It's awesome," Mace replied.

"Been on the Comet?" Justin asked. "I haven't gotten a chance to ride it yet, but I've heard it's the best roller coaster in the park."

"I haven't ridden it yet either," Macy answered. "I didn't have anyone to ride it with."

Justin looked at Kevin.

"Oh, he doesn't feel like riding it," Macy explained, pretty sure that Kevin didn't want her to spill his roller coaster fear to anyone.

"Well, I'll go on with you," Justin offered. "Roller coasters aren't much fun alone."

"Sure," Macy agreed.

"You know, you're pretty brave," Justin told Macy, offering his hand to her. "Most girls I know would be too afraid to ride the Vomit Comet. Even a couple of guys I know are too chicken."

Macy accepted Justin's hand and accompanied him to the ride, leaving Kevin standing alone next to Moons of Jupiter.

"You're pretty brave," Kevin mimicked in a high-pitched voice, once Macy and Justin were out of earshot. "Oh, Macy, it's me, Justin! You went on your first date with me! I have silky smooth hair and I'm not too chicken to ride a roller coaster!"

Frowning, Kevin fished through Nick's backpack until he found a pen and the familiar yellow notepad. "**Reason # 6:**" he wrote, "**She's too brave.**"

A few yards away, Nick and Frankie, who had just gotten off of their ride, watched Kevin's sulking.

"What's wrong with him?" Frankie asked.

"Frankie, I'm gonna tell you something that I want you to remember when you start liking girls," Nick said. "Sometimes it takes some motivation to realize that you like a girl. And the best form of motivation is competition."

**Please review, and I'll love you forever. Look for an update on Wednesday evening.**

**Next Chapter: Sunglasses and Stocking Caps**


	7. Sunglasses and Stocking Caps

**The new chapter, as promised. Thanks for reviewing chapter 6. Sorry that Macy is starting to get a little out of character. She's getting closer to Kevin, so I didn't think it would make sense for her to still be obsessed with him. Enjoy chapter 7!**

**14 Reasons Why Not **

**Chapter 7: Sunglasses and Stocking Caps**

"Kevin!" Macy called out, running to catch up with the oldest JONAS in the hall on Tuesday morning. "Kevin, wait up!"

Kevin didn't slow down, but Macy managed to catch up with him anyways.

"What's wrong?" Macy asked, falling into step with him. "Why did you bail on everyone last night after I got on the roller coaster? And why are you all distant now?"

"Amusement park rides just make me feel a little weird," Kevin replied. "And I'm not distant."

"Please, you're a million miles away. What's the matter? Did I do something wrong?"

Kevin didn't reply, but just kept walking.

"Will you at least talk to me?"

"Why don't you talk to your new boyfriend?"

A smile formed on Macy's lips as she realized what was going on. "Kevin, are you jealous of Justin?"

Kevin faked a laugh. "That guy? Give me a break. I didn't see anything special about him."

"Well I thought he was kinda cute," Macy replied.

Kevin's fake smile wavered. "I am not jealous of Justin," he insisted.

"Okay. You're not jealous," Macy surrendered, grinning.

"Thank you."

"So what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong!" Kevin exploded, coming to a halt.

The smile fell from Macy's face. "Clearly," she replied. "Do you…Do you not want to be my friend anymore?"

Kevin sighed. "I'm sorry, Macy. It's not you."

"Then what is it?" Macy asked once more.

"It's this," Kevin answered finally, pulling a magazine out of his backpack and handing it to her.

"More tabloids?" Macy said, reading the headline. "_Is Kevin Losing His Touch?_"it read.

"Read it."

Macy flipped to the page with the article on it and began reading. "'_Fame is a fickle thing, here today and gone tomorrow. And for Kevin Lucas, singer and guitar player in the brother band JONAS, things are not looking good. It seems his love life is on the rocks. His mystery girl was seen making a hasty departure from his home on Saturday, and she was spotted entering an amusement park with Lucas yesterday and leaving with a mystery man of her own. With Lucas's love life going downhill, and his musical talent constantly outshined by his brothers, can it be that the oldest JONAS member has peaked at eighteen?_' Kevin, that's ridiculous. You can't believe this piece of garbage, can you?"

"No," Kevin sighed. "I don't believe it."

"Then why are you letting it upset you?"

"It's hard to explain. It's like…Do you have biology with Mrs. Calf?"

"Yeah, fourth period. Why?"

"Well, I kinda feel like one of those amoebas on the slides."

Macy wrinkled her forehead. "Meaning?"

"You know, like I'm always under a microscope. I can't split into two cells or swallow paramecium without someone's big eyeball watching me. Just for once, I'd like to live like a normal teenager without being watched by the entire world."

Macy thought about this for a minute before responding. "Do you have sunglasses?"

"Sunglasses?" Kevin repeated. "Macy, I'm pouring out my soul to you here."

Macy fished through her bag, "You'll need a hat too. And you'll want to change into something a little less conspicuous. "

"Like a disguise? Why?"

Macy looked at Kevin as if it should have been obvious. "We're getting out of here."

"Getting out?"

"You and I are taking a mental health day."

"You mean…playing hooky? I don't know Macy. If my mom…"

Macy placed her finger over Kevin's mouth. He shut up immediately.

"Listen to me, Kevin," she said.

He nodded in reply.

"You're going to need a pair of sunglasses," she told him, "and a hat."

xoxoxo

"So, where do you want to go first?"

Kevin nervously pulled his stocking cap farther down on his head. "I don't know. I wasn't even expecting to get out of the school safely."

"You of little faith," Macy replied. "Come with me."

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere where no one will recognize you and no one will ask why we're not in school."

"And it's within walking distance?"

"Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time," Macy replied, taking Kevin's hand. His nervousness faded away as he laced his fingers with hers. "Come on, it's a little place downtown. Just a few blocks away."

"Does this place have food? Because I'm starving."

"Oh, the best."

"Good."

They walked the three blocks together hand in hand, ignoring the questioning glances they received from older people who passed them on the sidewalk. Finally, they arrived at a tiny oriental restaurant, camouflaged between a movie theater and a record store.

"What is this place?" Kevin asked, allowing Macy to drag him inside.

"It's _my_ place," she answered. "And I've decided to share it with you."

The atmosphere in the restaurant was warm and cozy, with bamboo scrolls hanging on the walls and paper lanterns hanging above the black wooden tables.

"Macy Misa!" cried the dark-skinned, balding man behind the counter, in his deep, friendly voice. "What brings you here on this fine Tuesday?"

Macy gestured toward Kevin. "Kevin here has never tried your amazing Thai tea."

"Never had my Thai tea?" the man said, looking at Kevin in disbelief.

"Unless you count having it dumped down my shirt," Kevin replied with a shrug.

"Well, we'll just have to fix that, now won't we?" the man said. "Two Thai teas coming right up. Have a seat."

Kevin followed Macy's lead and took a seat in one of the tall red-padded stools at the counter. The man placed two mugs in front of them, filled with an opaque tan liquid.

Kevin stared hesitantly at his drink. "This looks like nothing I've ever seen before," he whispered to Macy.

"It tastes like nothing you've ever tried before too," she assured him.

He took a cautious sip of the tea, and was pleasantly surprised by the sweetness of the drink.

"This is excellent!" he commented.

"Why thank you," the balding man said. "I do my best. So, Macy, you and your friend have any big plans for your day?"

"No plans," Macy replied. "We're just seeing what they day has in store for us." She lowered her voice, as if there was anyone in the room besides the three of them. "Kevin and I are playing hooky."

xoxoxo

"Hey, Joe. Have you seen Kevin?" Nick asked, approaching his brother in the atrium during lunch. "I found out something important that I have to tell him."

"Nope. Haven't seen him all day," Joe replied, not looking up from the notebook in his hands. "Nick, what rhymes with 'fast'?"

Nick rolled his eyes. "I'd help you with your cheesy little love song to Stella, but I have to find Kevin."

"It is not a love song!" Joe shouted, but Nick was already gone.

Joe shook his head and went back to his notebook, singing quietly to himself. "_I remember back when we were kids, I used to pull your hair. It was the only way I knew back then to show you that I care. And I'd chase you on the playground, but you always ran too fast…_ Fast. Cast. Blast. Mast. Grass…ed. Catch? Fast. Catch. Fast. Catch. _You're still the only girl today I'll ever try to catch_."

Joe nodded to himself and jotted down the corny new lyric on the notebook. Then he continued his quiet singing. "_I'd play the prince with your glass slipper, and you'd be my Cinderella. Looks like a perfect fit to me, my one and only…_Stella! When did you get here?"

"About two seconds ago," replied the blonde girl who stood before him. "Are you writing a song? Can I hear it?"

"No! I mean—it's not very good. And it isn't finished yet."

Stella nodded. "Okay. I was just looking for Macy. Have you seen her?"

Joe shook his head. "I haven't seen her all day."

"Weird. She wasn't in homeroom, and she won't answer her cell. Do you think she's sick?"

"Maybe she had to go to the nurse's office," Joe suggested. "Maybe she fainted again and Kevin had to carry her there. That could be why Nick and I haven't seen Kevin all day."

"Wait, Kevin's gone too?"

"Nick just came out here looking for him, and he wasn't in gym."

"Oh, this is big! This is huge." Stella exclaimed, excitedly hitting Macy's speed dial key on her cell phone. "Come on Macy. Please pick up. Please pick up!"

xoxoxo

"I missed four calls from Stella!" Macy said, flipping her cell phone closed.

"Shouldn't you call her back then?" Kevin asked, as the two wandered aimlessly around town.

Macy shook her head. "This is our mental health day. It has to be one hundred percent stress free. That means no JONAS for you and no Stella for me."

"Okay. We have some time left before school gets out. Where to next? We already hit the oriental place, the movie, and the arcade."

"Hmm," Macy said thoughtfully. "How about there?"

Kevin looked to where Macy was pointing, an empty, neglected playground with a graffiti-covered jungle gym, a rusty set of swings, and a broken teeter-totter.

"Looks like fun. Race you there?"

"Last one to the swing set is a rotten egg!" Macy shouted, sprinting toward the playground.

"First one has to eat it!" Kevin shot back, tearing after her.

Kevin arrived at the swings a good thirty seconds after Macy, holding his sides and panting breathlessly.

"Rotten egg," Macy said with a grin, taking a seat in one of the plastic swings.

Kevin collapsed into the swing next to her. "You had a head start."

"Sore loser," Macy said, kicking her legs to get the squeaky swing moving.

"I think I need a push to get started," Kevin told her. "That race wore me out."

Macy obliged, jumping off of her swing and running behind Kevin's. He kicked out his legs enthusiastically as she gave him the first giant shove. She continued pushing him until he soared well above her head, high enough that she could run underneath of him and take a seat on her own swing. She pumped her legs hard to catch up with Kevin's swing, until the two were in synch, soaring high enough that when they reached their greatest height, the entire swing set wobbled slightly.

"I could do this forever!" Macy cried out joyfully.

"I feel like a bird!" Kevin shouted at the top of his lungs.

"I feel…like I…can fly!" At the word _fly_, Macy let go of her swing and flew through the air, landing softly on the sand a few yards away.

"Macy! Wait…for…me!" Kevin cried, jumping off after her, and landing beside her with a soft _thud_.

Macy laughed and rolled over on the sand, so that her head was resting on Kevin's shoulder. "I haven't had this much fun since I was a kid."

"This was a good day," Kevin replied. "It's nice to feel like a kid again. To have…"

"Nothing to worry about?" Macy finished.

"Exactly. But we're gonna be in so much trouble."

Macy elbowed him gently in the side. "You're not supposed to be worrying, remember?"

"Sorry."

"You're forgiven."

The two of them lay on the sand in silence for a while, before Kevin spoke again. "We should get back to school before my brothers get out of class and wonder where I am."

Macy nodded into Kevin's shoulder. "I guess the best mental health day ever can't last forever."

Kevin stood up and brushed the sand off of his clothes before reaching down to help Macy up. She took his hand and let him help her to her feet.

"I pushed you on the swings," Macy told him. "Which means you owe me a piggy back ride."

Kevin smiled and turned around, kneeling down and holding out his arms to allow Macy to jump onto his back. She climbed on and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, burying her face in his neck. Kevin pretended not to notice her breath on his neck, which he quite enjoyed. He stood back up and began his trek.

xoxoxo

After the final bell rang, Nick walked to Kevin's locker, where he was surprised to find his brother grabbing his text books.

"You're here?" Nick said. "I was looking for you today. I thought maybe you were playing hooky."

Kevin's eyes widened. "Keep your voice down!" he hissed.

Nick gasped. "You _did_. Mom's gonna kill you!"

"Only if she finds out."

"Mom _always_ finds out."

Kevin frowned. "Oh, man. You're right."

"Are you new?" Nick asked, smacking his brother on the shoulder. "I'm _always_ right."

"I knew I'd have to pay for this mental health day."

"Why would you skip school? Do you have a death wish?"

"Macy talked me into it. She's very convincing," Kevin replied. "And she's…what's the word?"

"Spontaneous?" Nick supplied.

"That's the one. You have that yellow notepad? I'm writing that down."

Nick pulled the yellow notepad out of his backpack and handed it to Kevin. "**Reason # 7: She's too spontaneous.**" he jotted.

"Where's Joe?" Kevin asked, handing the notepad back to Nick.

Nick shrugged. "The last time I saw him was at lunch. He was writing a mushy song about Stella."

Kevin laughed. "Really?"

"Dude, ever since I asked Stella to the amusement park, Joe's been jumping through hoops trying to impress her."

"I'm not impressed by people jumping through hoops unless the hoops are on fire," Kevin commented.

Nick rolled his eyes. "It's a figure of speech."

"Right. I knew that. So, why were you looking for me?"

"Huh?" Nick said, shoving the notepad back into his bag.

"You said you were looking for me earlier."

"Oh yeah. I had something important to tell you."

"And?" Kevin urged. "What was it?"

Nick wrinkled his forehead. "I forgot."

"It must not have been that important then."

Nick shrugged. "I'll probably remember again tomorrow."

**The two weeks are halfway over! What did you think of Joe's corny love song? ****Please review!**

**Next Chapter: Jealousy and Jelly-Knees**


	8. Jealousy and JellyKnees

**Okay, something I forgot to note in the last chapter: Kevin says his biology teacher's name in **_**Fashion Victim**_**, but I can't really understand what he calls her. It sounds like "Mrs. Calf" to me, so that's what I'm calling her in this story. Probably not a big deal, but I thought it was worth mentioning.**

**Thanks to Fabled Diamond for dedicating an awesome one-shot "Shifting" to me. I'm totally honored, especially since a lot of my favorite JONAS fics are yours, including "Just Like Kevin" and "Secret Admirer", which was the first fic I read in the JONAS fandom, and what first inspired me to write Kacy.**

**And special recognition also to xo. vicki. xo, who always writes awesome reviews and writes "In Training", which I'm totally in love with. If you've read it, you'll know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, YOU CRAZIES?**

**And thanks, of course, to everyone who reviewed my last chapter. Every time I read a review, I grin like crazy and try to write a chapter that will kick my last chapter's butt. So hopefully, I have succeeded with this chapter. Enjoy!**

**I do not own JONAS.**

**14 Reasons Why Not**

**Chapter 8: Jealousy and Jelly-Knees**

_I'm burning up, burning up for you ba_—Kevin flipped open his ringing cell phone. "Hello?"

"_Seven days_," whispered the voice on the other end.

Kevin rolled his eyes and hung up the phone. "Joe, that doesn't work when you're standing right next to me."

"Seven days," Joe repeated. "Of the bet. One week down, one week to go. Think you can last another week?"

"I made it this far," Kevin replied. "I think I can handle it."

"I don't know," Joe replied. "Things are moving pretty fast. You've gone from eye-kissing to ditching school together. That's extreme."

"How busted are you?" Stella asked, brushing pushing her hair behind her shoulders.

"Mom went pretty easy on him," Joe answered, reaching out and pushing back a blonde hair that she had missed. "First she lectured him for two hours. Then she lectured _me_ for two hours just in case I was thinking of following my big brother's bad example. Then she lectured Kevin for another two hours about how being the oldest comes with the responsibility of being a role model to your younger siblings and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Then she grounded him."

"For how long and from what?" Stella asked reaching up and touching the spot where Joe's hand had brushed her shoulder.

"Only three days," Joe replied.

"But from what?" Stella repeated, licking her palm and smoothing down a stray hair on Joe's head.

Kevin's face wrinkled in agony. "From my…guitar!"

Stella hugged her friend sympathetically. "You poor baby!"

Nick walked up and saw this display of sympathy. "What happened to Kevin?" he asked Joe. "Did he find out that Justin…?"

"He just told Stella about his punishment," Joe interrupted, tugging Stella away from his brother jealously. "Enough with the PDA already! Do I have a cowlick?"

"Wait, what about Justin?" Kevin asked Nick, as Stella pulled out at comb and began playing with Joe's hair.

"That's the big news that I wanted to tell you yesterday but forgot," Nick replied. "Justin…"

"Justin from the amusement park?" Kevin interrupted, a look of distaste upon his face.

Nick nodded. "Yeah. He…"

Nick was interrupted once again, this time by Macy, who came running up to her friends, dragging a familiar blond boy behind her.

"Kevin!" she shouted. "Look who just transferred to Horace Mantis!"

"…goes to our school now," Nick finished.

"Hey Rockstar," Justin greeted him.

Kevin stared at the boy whose hand was currently in Macy's. "Great."

"Macy," Justin said, in a lowered voice. "What's your friend doing to the middle JONAS?"

xoxoxo

"Dude, what are you doing?" Joe asked his brother. "This isn't _Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure_, man."

Kevin had his right hand in front of his chest and his left hand in the air, and was moving his fingers as if there were guitar strings between them.

"I'm taking out my frustration on air guitar," Kevin explained. "Since Mom grounded me from my real one."

"Jealous," Joe muttered under his breath for the thousandth time.

"I am not jealous," Kevin insisted. "Macy and Justin are just friends. Macy and I are just friends. Macy can be friends with whoever she wants to be friends with."

"Until she and the new kid become _more_ than just friends," Joe replied, scribbling something into his notebook.

"And why should that bother me?" Kevin asked through clenched teeth.

"Because then Macy will be hitting _Justin_ with golf clubs and kissing _Justin's_ eyes to make them better."

"Macy can hit whoever she wants with a golf club," Kevin said defiantly, crossing his arms over his chest, and secretly hoping that Justin _did_ get hit with a club. Preferably over the head.

Joe rolled his eyes, scratching off something he had written in his notebook. "Whatever."

"What are you writing anyways?" Kevin asked, snatching the notebook from his brother.

"Hey, you can't read that!" Joe cried, attempting to grab the notebook back.

"'_I won't let you stand in the rain. There's room under my umbrella_,'" Kevin read aloud. "'_Looks like a perfect fit to me, my one and only Stella_.' Wow. And I thought my fourth grade poetry assignment was bad."

"Give me that."

"I can't believe you were giving me so much grief," Kevin commented, "while writing the most ridiculously cheesy love song ever to have the inspiration's name in the chorus."

"For your information," Joe replied, snatching his notebook back, "that wasn't the chorus."

"Constantly accusing me of being in denial," Kevin went on. "That makes you a complete…hippopotamus!"

Joe wrinkled his forehead. "How does that make me a hippopotamus?"

Kevin frowned. "Wait, I don't think that was the right word."

"Look, I'll make a deal with you," Joe said. "I'll admit to you and Stella and Nick and the rest of the world that I might have…feelings…for Stella, if you admit that you're jealous of Macy and the new kid."

"I am _not_ jealous," Kevin insisted. "I don't care if Macy hangs out with Justin. I don't care that Macy used to have a massive crush on Justin. I don't care that Macy went on her very first date with Justin. I don't even care that I'm eating lunch with you and your cheesy song while Macy has lunch with Justin…" Kevin's voice trailed off as he got a distant look in his eyes. "I wonder what they're talking about right now."

xoxoxo

"You really thought I moved to Arizona to get away from you?"

"Well, you might find this hard to believe, but some people seem to think that I come on a little too strong."

Justin laughed. "The picture thing was a little creepy, but flattering. I moved to Arizona because my dad was getting married to his long-distance girlfriend."

"And you moved back here because?"

"Because they liked their relationship better when it was long distance."

Macy wasn't sure how seriously to take that comment, so she decided to backtrack to their previous topic. "So it had nothing to do with the picture of you that I kept on my nightstand?"

"Truth?"

"Truth."

"I used to have a picture of you too."

Macy blushed. "Really?"

Justin nodded. "I kept it in my locker."

Macy grinned slyly. "Did you have a crush on me, Justin?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"Why does it matter?" Justin asked, attempting to sidestep the question. "We were in eighth grade."

"Okay, fine. If you don't want to answer the question…"

"Besides," Justin interrupted. "You clearly have a thing for Rockstar now."

The red in Macy's cheeks deepened. "Is it that obvious?"

"Almost as obvious as his thing for you."

Macy sighed. "That's what Stella told me. But if he likes me so much, why can't he just admit it?"

Justin shrugged. "For the same reason you won't?"

"Are you saying I should tell him?"

"Makes more sense than waiting around for him to tell you."

Macy groaned. "Why do you have to be right?"

"Does that mean you're gonna tell him?"

Macy laughed. "Are you kidding? Not in a million years."

Justin shook his head, clearly ashamed. "If you weren't a girl, I'd hit you."

"What? Why?"

"You were telling me earlier about your best friend Stella, and how she won't just work up the nerve to tell Joe Lucas she likes him."

"So?"

"So, you're exactly the same way with Kevin. Which makes you a complete hypocrite."

"Fair enough," Macy replied with a nod. "But I'm still not telling Kevin I like him."

xoxoxo

Kevin stood in front of the mirror in the empty boys' bathroom on the second floor, nervously straightening his shirt and trying to tame his wildly curly hair.

"What are you doing, man?" he asked himself, when he had finally gotten his hair to lie flat. "Ladies love the curls."

He quickly ruffled his hair to get it back to its impressive height. Checking his reflection again, he decided that he still looked a little too put-together and promptly tugged on his shirt to make it look messier. Perfect.

"You look great," he told his reflection. "And you are ready. The final bell is about to ring, and then you can finally tell Macy exactly how you feel about her."

He tilted his head at his reflection.

"Then again. What if she doesn't like you back? I mean, she's been perfectly happy being just friends for the past week. Maybe it's too soon."

He glared and shook his head at himself.

"What are you saying, man? Too soon? It could be too late. What if she's already fallen for Justin? I mean, she used to kiss his picture good night. You have to do this, Kevin. It's now or never. And never just isn't an option."

His conversation with himself was interrupted by the ringing of the final bell. Taking a deep breath, he made his way to the door.

Kevin couldn't think about what he was going to say to Macy when he met her at her locker. All he could concentrate was making it to her locker without passing out. He never did make it to her locker. Not because he passed out, but because just as he made it to the stair case and was about to descend, he ran into Macy herself.

"Kevin!" she cried, apparently just as surprised as he was to bump into him.

"Macy. I was just about to go talk to you."

"Really?" Macy asked anxiously. "About what?"

"About…"

Oh, no. Maybe he should have rehearsed what he was going to say. He could feel his knees going weak just at the sight of her. The way she shyly hugged her text book to her chest. The way her bangs fell into her eyes. The way she was nervously nibbling on her lower lip. His legs felt a little like…jelly. And he was quite sure jelly was not strong enough to support the upper half of his body.

"Kevin, is something wrong?" Macy asked, reaching out and touching his shoulder.

He was right about the jelly. Because the moment her hand made contact with his shoulder, his knees gave way, and he found himself toppling down the stairs.

"Kevin!" Macy cried, running down the stairs after him.

He could not tell whether anything was broken, because the overwhelming embarrassment of falling down the stairs in front of the girl of his dreams was overpowering the pain he was feeling in the rest of his body. He closed his eyes, hoping that when he opened them again, he would be in his bed, and not lying on the floor in front of the stairs in the school hallway.

"Kev?"

He could feel Macy kneeling beside him, putting a concerned hand to his face. Then he felt her hands moving slowly down his arm. But something didn't feel quite right. These weren't the delicate hands he had guided across the strings of his guitar. He opened his eyes, and indeed found Macy kneeling over him. But she was not the one touching his arm. Kneeling beside Macy, was none other than Justin Weiss.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Kevin cried, pulling his arm away.

"Chill out, Rockstar," Justin said, putting his hands in the air. "I was just checking for broken bones."

"Justin's a football player," Macy explained. "He's seen tons of injuries."

"Oh, I'm sure he has," Kevin spat, sitting up. "Football player. Big man on campus. Bet you get a lot of girls that way, don't you Big Shot?"

"Kevin, what is wrong with you?" Macy asked. "Did you hit your head on your way down or are you always a jerk and I just didn't notice it until now?"

Kevin cringed at his own behavior. "Sorry," he muttered.

"It's cool," Justin said, standing up, a frightened look on his face. "I'm just gonna go home now. See you tomorrow, Mace."

Macy grinned at Justin and waved goodbye before turning back to Kevin and returning the scowl to her face. She got to her feet and crossed her arms. "Is that any way to treat a new student, _Rockstar_?"

"I'm sorry," Kevin said again, standing up.

Macy sighed, angry at herself for not being able to stay angry with him. "It's okay."

Kevin felt his knees going weak again as the smile returned to her face. Maybe he shouldn't have stood back up.

"What was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Macy asked.

"Huh?"

"Before you…you know…biffed it on the stairs."

"Oh!" Kevin said, feeling his cheeks heat up. "Um…You're taking the same biology class as me, right?"

Macy looked disappointed. "Yeah. It's the same class, just a different period."

"Right," Kevin said. "Because I have it right after lunch and you have it before lunch."

"Uh huh," Macy said, waiting for him to get to the point.

"We, uh, have a test on Friday," he said. "And I need help studying. So, like, maybe you could help me study tomorrow during lunch?"

"Sure," Macy agreed, nodding. "It's a date."

At the word "date" Kevin's knees failed him once again. He collapsed, falling forward, but this time, Macy caught him before any damage could be done.

"Still dizzy," Kevin explained quickly. "From the stairs. Okay, bye."

Macy watched the JONAS member, wide-eyed, as he rushed away. "If it were anyone but Kevin," she said to herself, "I would think he was just weird."

xoxoxo

"I don't know about this, Stells," Nick said to his stylist, as the two of them and Joe waited for the third JONAS member beside Kevin's car. "I'm beginning to think that Kevin and Macy would be getting together faster without our so-called help."

"Don't you trust me?" Stella asked, absentmindedly braiding a lock of her hair.

"I do," Joe assured her, snatching up a lock of her hair and attempting to mimic her braiding. "Nick doesn't know what he's talking about."

Nick rolled his eyes. "You two think it's torture waiting for Kevin and Macy to admit they like each other. Imagine what it must be like to have to watch _two_ couples beating around the world's biggest bush."

"Dude, what are you talking about?" Joe asked, dropping Stella's hair.

Before Nick could reply, a dizzy-looking Kevin stumbled toward them, leaning against parked cars for support.

"I'm not even gonna ask," Nick said. "I'm just gonna give you the list and let you do your thing."

Kevin took the yellow notepad from his brother and scrawled, "**Reason # 8: She makes me fall down.**"

Stella laughed, reading over Kevin's shoulder. "I heard that someone fell down the stairs, but I had no idea it was you."

"It just happened!" Kevin cried. "How did you already find out about it?"

Stella rolled her eyes and held up her cell phone as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Hello, girls' gossip chain. Frankie just texted me."

**Thanks for reading. Hope you liked it. Please review.**

**I don't know when I'll be able to update, but I'll put up the next chapter as soon as I possibly can.**

**Next chapter: Nicknames and Study Dates**


	9. Nicknames and Study Dates

**Let me start by saying how sorry I am that I took so long to update. I'm a bad person. I deserve to be locked up and/or tortured! Just kidding. Hopefully you don't feel that way... Anyways... Here's the chapter, finally. BTW, I'm extremely excited, because I was daydreaming at work today (I'm a daydreamer. The only time I'm not daydreaming is when I'm sleeping, because that's when I'm actually dreaming.) and I came up with an idea for another Kacy story, which I'll probably get started on today and start posting after this one is finished. I'm excited!! **

**I don't own JONAS.**

**14 Reasons Why Not**

**Chapter 9: Nicknames and Study Dates**

"And why does he keep calling me Rockstar?" Kevin asked his brothers, as he pulled into the school parking lot. "I mean, there's more to me than that. How would he like it if I called him Football Boy or…Jock Strap?"

"Dude, if you don't stop talking about Justin, I'm gonna start thinking you're in love with him and not Macy," Joe said.

Kevin didn't bother to argue that he was not in love with Macy. What was the point, when he was planning to ask her to be his girlfriend? He was nervous, but at the same time, relieved. Once he asked her out, this stupid bet with Stella and his brothers would be over. Sure, it would mean he'd lost, but at least he wouldn't have to keep coming up with reasons he didn't like Macy. Or, to be more accurate, twisting things he loved about Macy so that it sounded like he didn't like them. This bet was just making things complicated. Life would be much simpler after Macy agreed to be his girlfriend.

That is, if she said yes.

Kevin's stomach was in knots. It was that lingering _if_. There was no way to be absolutely sure that Macy liked him back. Two days ago, he would have been positive. But then _Justin_ came along and ruined everything. Kevin wished desperately that he had his guitar to calm his nerves.

The three brothers walked into the school together. Stella was waiting for them at the door, eager to talk to them about something.

"Hey Stella," Joe greeted her with a smile.

"How could this happen?" Stella cried, ignoring Joe's greeting.

"What happened?" Kevin asked.

Stella held an opened magazine in front of her chest.

"Do you see this? Do you see it?"

Kevin became uneasy. He knew that when Stella started repeating phrases to add extra emphasis, that they were in deep trouble.

Nick wrinkled his forehead. "It's a picture of me wearing the same shirt as Zac Efron. So what?"

"So what? _So what_? It says that Zac wore it better! There is a reason I make your clothes myself, Nick. It's so that this kind of thing doesn't happen. Now I'm ruined. _Ruined_!"

"Stella, calm down," Joe said, putting his hands on her shoulders.

Stella took a deep breath.

"Everything is going to be fine. You are not ruined," Joe assured her. "You are the most awesome teen stylist in the country, which is why you're _our_ stylist. That, and you've been our best friend since Nick was in diapers."

"Whatever, man. I was born potty trained," Nick replied.

Joe was about to retaliate with a comeback, when Justin showed up, to Kevin's displeasure.

"Hey guys," he greeted them.

They all said hello back, except for Kevin, who just stood there with his arms crossed.

"Hey, Rockstar," Justin said to Kevin. "You seen Macy around? I need to ask her something."

"No, _Jock Strap_, I haven't," Kevin replied.

"Hey, my old nickname!" Justin said with a grin, giving Kevin a friendly slap on the back. "How did you know all of my friends in Arizona called me Jock Strap?"

"Lucky guess?"

"Well, I'll talk to you guys later. Gotta go find Macy," Justin said, walking away.

Kevin watched Justin with crossed arms and narrow eyes.

"So, Stella," Joe said, once Justin was out of sight. "I was wondering if you wanted to…"

"Hold that thought," Stella interrupted him. "I have to talk to Jock Str—I mean, Justin about something."

"The nerve of that guy," Joe said, as Stella raced after the athletic blond boy. "Kevin, you're right about him. He is a jerk."

"The worst thing about being in a band with your brothers: You're stuck with them," Nick muttered, rolling his eyes. "If you two weren't my brothers, I'd replace you."

xoxoxo

"Justin, wait up!" Stella called.

Justin turned and waited for Stella to catch up to him. "What's up?" he asked.

Stella paused to catch her breath, placing a hand on Justin's shoulder. "Listen, Justin," she said finally. "I've been best friends with Macy for a long time. And I've known Kevin my whole life. I really want both of them to be happy…"

"Relax, Stella," Justin interrupted. "Macy only sees me as a friend. She really likes Rockstar."

"And you're okay with that?"

"Sure, I feel the same way."

Stella's eyes widened.

"Not about Kevin," Justin said quickly. "About Macy and me just being friends."

Stella nodded. "Okay. Okay, good."

"I mean, sure, I had a crush on Macy in junior high," Justin continued.

"Wait up. You had a crush on Macy?"

"Sure, but that was a long time ago. I mean it was _eighth grade_. Who holds on to a crush for that long?"

Stella blushed, as a certain tall, dark, and handsome JONAS popped into her head. She laughed, nervously. "Yeah. Well, I should get to class now. Nice talking to you."

xoxoxo

"There you are," Justin said, spotting Macy in the library. "I've been searching for you all morning."

"Oh, hey Justin. What's up?"

Justin grinned, pulling two tickets out of his shirt pocket. "Guess who scored two tickets to the Nets game?"

Macy gaped. "Are you kidding me? That game's been sold out for months! How did you get those?"

"I have connections," Justin replied. "How do you think I got into that exclusive amusement park opening?"

"Let me get this straight," Macy said. "You got two tickets to what is possibly the biggest basketball game of our entire lives, and you're inviting me?"

"I know it's a little weird," Justin said. "But I haven't made a lot of friends here besides you. Or any."

Macy laughed in disbelief. "Who wouldn't want to be friends with you?"

"People here seem to have the idea that I'm like, some sort of woman-stealer or something. I don't get it."

"Oh my gosh. The Nets game…wait, this isn't a date, right?"

"No way," Justin assured her. "My girlfriend would not be okay with that."

"Then I would love to go to the Nets game with you. Who am I kidding? It's the Nets. I couldn't care less if it was with you or even if it was with…Jerry Valentine. And believe me, there are not many things that I can enjoy in the presence of that guy. He got me suspended from the tennis team…"

"I just wanted to know if you'd go to the game with me," Justin cut her off. "Your novella about this Jimmy Valentine guy isn't really necessary."

"This is unbelievable. I'm invited to the Nets game. I'm having lunch with Kevin today. The only thing that could make this day better is if Kevin finally asks me out."

Justin laughed. "I wouldn't count on it. I keep telling you, if you don't make the first move, you're never gonna get anywhere."

"Yeah, we'll see."

xoxoxo

"Macy, will you go out with me?" Kevin shook his head. "No, that doesn't feel right. Macy, remember how I said I only wanted to be friends? Well I don't feel that way anymore. Nice, Kevin, you sound like a jerk. You don't want to sound like a jerk when you ask her out. And stop talking to yourself, you moron."

Kevin shook off his nerves and cleared his throat. "Relax. You can do this. You have to do this. You just have to look her in the eye and say, 'Macy…'"

"Yeah, Kevin?"

Kevin spun around to see that Macy had just walked through the door, her lunch in one hand and her biology text book in the other.

"Hi!" Kevin said, a little too enthusiastically.

"You ready to get started?"

"Get started?"

Macy held up her text book.

"Biology," Kevin said, taking a seat. "Right. Yeah, let's study."

"Great," Macy said, sitting down beside him and opening her book on her lap. "The test is on genetics, so I thought we'd start with Punnett squares."

"Good thinking. You can start by telling me what the heck a Puckett square is."

"Are you serious?"

"Are they important?"

"Why don't we just start from the beginning?"

"Right. Who invented genetics?"

Macy nodded. "Gregor Mendel, um…invented genetics. See, he was doing experiments with pea plants…"

"Pea plants. Right."

"Kevin, are you even listening to me?"

"Sorry," Kevin apologized. "I'm just a little…distracted."

Macy closed her book. "By what?"

"What?"

"Kevin, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, it's just…Macy, what are you doing tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow? I'm going to a basketball game."

"Oh, you have a game?"

"No, _I_ don't have a game. I'm going to see the Nets game."

Kevin nodded, nervously. He had decided that the best way to ask her to be his girlfriend was to start by asking her on a date. But he did not count on her having plans for Friday night. He was too thrown off by this new information to even think to suggest Saturday instead. "That sounds exciting."

"So exciting," Macy agreed. "When Justin invited me this morning, I thought he was joking, but…"

"Wait, Justin?"

Macy nodded. "Yeah. He's got connections. He asked me to go with him and I said that I'd love to."

"Wow," Kevin said, flatly. "That should be fun."

"I know. But we have to leave right after school tomorrow, which means I'll miss tennis practice again. Coach isn't gonna be happy with me, especially since the last day of my tennis suspension was Monday, and I had to miss practice on Tuesday because I ditched school, and we're not allowed at practice if we're absent for more than half of the day. So I probably won't get to play in the tournament. But it's the Nets game, so it's totally worth it. I mean, what sounds more fun, playing doubles with Valentine, or cheering on the New Jersey Nets with Justin?"

"Um…the second one?"

"Sorry," Macy apologized. "I was rambling. Again. So, why did you want to know what I'm doing tomorrow?"

"Oh, you know," Kevin said, trying to sound casual. "I just thought that if you weren't doing anything, you…you and Stella could hang out with me…and my brothers. Me and my brothers. Or my brothers and I. My brothers and me. I don't really know which is grammatically correct. But since you already have plans…It's no big deal."

"Okay," Macy said, nodding. "So, should we get back to studying?"

"Yeah," Kevin said. "Back to those Puckett squares."

"Punnett."

"Right."

xoxoxo

He didn't get it. He was going to tell her the truth. He was so close. Why didn't he just spill? What was his problem? Kevin put a hand on his forehead as he walked to his locker. _She_ was his problem. He was ready to tell her. Until he got face to face with her.

The school day was over, and Kevin and Macy were still just friends. And he still didn't know what the heck a Puckett square was, or what Gregory what's-his-face did with peas. His stomach growled at the thought of peas. He hadn't eaten his lunch either. Somehow he had just forgotten to.

"You look miserable," Nick said, as he and Joe caught up with Kevin.

"I had a bad day," Kevin replied, making it clear to his brothers that he did not plan to elaborate.

"I know what will cheer you up," Joe said, holding out yellow notepad. "Adding something else to our list."

Kevin groaned. "Guys, I don't really want to make this list."

"Okay," Joe said. "But remember our deal. If you can't come up with fourteen reasons in fourteen days, you have to ask Macy out."

Kevin groaned again. "Give me the list."

Joe handed the list to Kevin.

"Turn," Kevin instructed.

Joe turned around and Kevin used his back as a writing surface. "**Reason # 9: She makes me second guess myself.**"

"She makes you second guess yourself?" Nick said, reading over Kevin's shoulder.

"Ha," Joe laughed, standing up straight again. "Bro, that's love if I've ever seen it."

"Shut up," Kevin shot back.

"Kevin loves Macy," Joe sang.

"Hey Joe," Nick said, interrupting Joe's teasing. "Isn't that Stella over there talking to Jock Strap? I mean, Justin."

"What?" Joe cried, looking to where Nick was pointing. "What's she doing with him? What's that guy's problem? Does he think he owns every girl in this school? That he can just move in on whoever he wants? Well I could teach him a thing or two…"

Nick sighed. "That's it, brothers or not, I'm putting out ads for replacements immediately."

**Again, I'm really sorry that it took so long to update. I'll update as soon as possible. Review, and I'll love you forever.**

**Next chapter: Biology and Basketball**


	10. Biology and Basketball

**I took way too long to update again. I'm sorry. I suck. But I hope this chapter is worth the wait. And to those of you who reviewed the last chapter, I love you forever!**

**I don't own JONAS.**

**14 Reasons Why Not**

**Chapter 10: Biology and Basketball**

Macy's song was stuck in his head again. He had been playing it absentmindedly on his air guitar since his mother grounded him from his real one. This was his last day of being grounded from his guitar, and his fingers were itching for those strings.

This was all Macy's fault. Why did she have to be so persuasive and get him grounded for playing hooky? And why did she always have to be stuck in his head? With Macy on his mind and no guitar to ease his stress, he did not see how he could possibly pass his biology test.

"Are you okay?" Joe asked him, putting a concerned hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Need…guitar."

"It's okay, Kevin," Joe soothed. "You'll have it back in your hands tomorrow, and everything will be okay."

"Having…withdrawals."

"I did not know a person could have guitar withdrawals," Nick commented. "If I'd have known that, Kevin would have been an excellent subject for my science experiment last year. I could have won the blue ribbon."

"So let's be thankful you didn't," Joe replied. "Because that would have made you a nerd and JONAS wouldn't be cool."

"Maybe we should give him something," Nick told Joe, shooting a worried glance at Kevin. "Maybe some caffeine or something. He looks like he could seriously pass out."

Joe shook his head. "I don't think so, Nick. What Kevin needs cannot be found in a mug or a can. What he needs is an acoustic guitar and a good dose of Macy."

Nick raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Joe asked.

"In your mind," Nick replied, "do girls really come in _doses_?"

xoxoxo

"I can't help it, Stella," Macy sighed. "Everything thought leads back to Kevin. I mean, it's wonderful, but it's also distracting. And it could start to affect my grades. If I fail this bio test it'll bring my grade down to…" Macy did some quick calculations in her head, "an eighty-two."

"If you can calculate a weighted grade point average in your head, grades are the last thing you need to be worrying about," Stella replied. "I think you should be worrying about how else you can use Justin to make Kevin jealous."

Macy gasped. "Stella! Justin is my friend. I would never use him. And the last thing I want to do is play mind games with Kevin. You play with someone's emotions, and someone is bound to get hurt."

"Macy, when you start to get all righteous, all I can hear is 'blah, blah, blah.'"

"There's just no getting through to you," Macy replied. "I'll talk to you later, Stella. I have a test to fail."

xoxoxo

_Punnett squares. Punnett squares_. She knew this. Why couldn't she answer these questions? For crying out loud, she had just tutored Kevin on this yesterday. Macy rubbed her temples. She had never had this kind of trouble on a test before. Shaking her head in defeat, she moved on to a question about dominant and recessive eye colors.

_Blue eyes are recessive_, she reminded herself. _Brown eyes are dominant_.

Macy's thoughts drifted to Kevin's eyes. Those beautiful eyes. She used to debate whether they were brown with a hint of green, or whether they were a dark olive green with a bit of brown in them.

Macy shook her head, trying to focus on the test. _Stop thinking about Kevin_, she ordered herself. _Genetics. If one mate has brown eyes and the other has blue eyes, what are the odds that the child will have blue eyes?_ Macy wondered what color eyes their children would have if she and Kevin ever got married. Probably brown, but she hoped at least one of them got Kevin's eyes.

_Stop thinking about Kevin's eyes!_ she scolded herself. _This question is too distracting. Go on to the next one and come back to it later._

Macy looked at the next question. _If one mate has curly hair…_She shook her head. She was not even gonna go there. On to the next question.

Freckles. This seemed like a safe question, as Kevin didn't have freckles. Although he would probably look adorable with freckles. Or maybe not. She liked his face the way it was. With that little mole on his cheek and that tiny bit of stubble on his chin…_Stop it, Macy!_

xoxoxo

_In no less than three sentences, explain natural selection._

Kevin groaned. Teachers were sadistic people. They always placed the essay questions at the very end of the tests. Just when they thought they were almost finished with their tests, students always found themselves stuck on the stupid essay questions. After guessing his way through the multiple choice, suffering through the fill-in-the-blanks, and agonizing over the short answers, Kevin sat rapidly tapping his pencil on his desk as he tried to think of something to write for his essay question.

He put his pencil to the paper, hoping that the action would somehow bring him closer to having an answer to the question.

"_Natural selection is_," he wrote, before becoming stuck again. He smiled to himself, proud of the good start he had made. He frowned again when he realized he had no idea how to explain natural selection. Which meant he had to make something up.

"_Natural selection is more commonly known as survival of the fittest._"

He nodded to himself. That much he knew, and he had even phrased it in a way that almost made it seem like he knew his stuff.

"_Survival of the fittest is when only the strongest and best looking dudes get all of the girls, so they end up having cute and physically fit kids. Jocks get all of the girls. Sure, lots of girls want to date rock stars, but tough, sporty girls would rather go to basketball games with football players who have good tans because they're from Arizona where it's always sunny. And that, my friends, is natural selection. You either have the good genes, or you don't, and if you don't, you're screwed._"

xoxoxo

"How'd the test go?" Nick asked Kevin, as the three brothers walked through the parking lot to Kevin's car.

Kevin scratched his head. "You know what? I don't remember."

"That can't be a good sign," Joe commented.

"Why can't you remember the test?" Nick asked, slyly. "Did you have something…or _someone_ on your mind?"

"Psh," Kevin replied, watching Macy across the parking lot, climbing into the back of a long limousine with Justin. "I don't get distracted. My focus is, like, twenty-twenty."

"All right," Nick replied, passing the yellow notepad to Kevin. "Do you have anything to add to our list today?"

Kevin grabbed the notebook from Nick and wrote, "**Reason # 10: She makes me lose focus.**"

Joe snatched the notepad from his brother to read what he had written. He wrinkled his forehead as he read reason ten. "But didn't you _just_ say…"

"Leave it," Nick cut him off. "It won't be much longer."

Kevin watched the limo drive away. "Guys? Do you think—I'm asking as a concerned friend, of course—do you think that Macy, like, _likes_ Jock Strap?"

"Why are you so concerned?" Nick asked.

"Well…because."

"Before we answer your question," Joe said to Kevin, "Let me ask you one. If we say that, yes, Macy likes Justin, will that encourage or discourage you from asking her out?"

"I choose not to answer your question."

"Then we choose not to answer yours."

"Fair enough."

xoxoxo

"I've never been to an NBA game before," Macy gushed, as she and Justin took their seats.

"Never?" Justin asked, skeptically.

"Nope. I've never ridden in a limo either until today. This is so exciting."

"No kidding," Justin replied, sarcastically. "Is that why you stuck your head through the sun roof and shouted, 'It's a lot windier than I expected!'?"

"Shut up," Macy replied, swatting him with her foam finger.

Justin hit Macy back with his own foam finger.

"I thought you said you'd never hit a girl."

"Well, you hit me first."

"Well, you deserved it for making fun of me."

"Fine."

"Apologize," Macy ordered.

"Excuse me?"

"Apologize," Macy repeated.

"Okay, I'm sorry for making fun of you."

"Now apologize for hitting me," Macy instructed.

"But you hit me first!" Justin argued.

Macy gave him a stern glare.

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry for hitting you with my foam finger."

Macy smiled. "You are forgiven."

"You're gonna make a good mother someday."

Macy grinned. "I hope so. Because I want to have a lot of kids."

"How many is a lot?"

"Half a dozen. And I hope they all have curly hair and dark, olive green eyes." She sighed, dreamily.

"And the ever predictable Macy Misa can't even get her mind off of Kevin Lucas at a Nets game," Justin teased.

"Yeah, okay Justin," Macy replied, holding up her foam finger in a threatening manner. "You can feel free to shut your smart mouth any time."

"I don't see why you don't just ask him out," Justin said. "It's clear he likes you. He gives me the evil eye every time I look at him. And he calls me 'Jock Strap'. It's really kind of funny, because I pretend it doesn't bother me, and it bothers him that it doesn't bother me…"

"He did act a little weird when I told him I was coming here with you tonight," Macy responded.

"You've told him we're just friends, right?"

"He knows we're just friends," Macy assured him.

"But did you _tell him_?"

"Not exactly," Macy replied, frowning.

"How did you tell him you were coming to the game with me?"

"Well, we were having lunch together, and I was tutoring him in biology."

"And then?"

"And then he interrupted my tutoring to ask me what I was doing Friday night. So I told him I was going to the Net's game with you."

"You idiot!" Justin cried, smacking her once again on the shoulder with his foam finger.

"Hey! What was that for?" Macy cried, snatching his foam finger off of the boy's hand. "I'm still a girl, Justin."

Justin rolled his eyes. "Kevin was asking you out, Macy," he explained. "When he asked you what you were doing Friday night, you were supposed to say, 'Why, nothing at all, Kevin. Why do you ask?' not 'I'm riding a limo to an NBA game with a guy you hate.'"

Macy's mouth dropped open. "Kevin was…asking me out?"

Justin nodded. "Good luck getting that to happen again."

Macy smacked her own forehead with her foam-fingered hand. "I am in idiot!"

A man sitting behind the two teens leaned forward. "Are you two gonna be talking about this Kevin guy all night? Because it might get a little irritating for those of us actually trying to enjoy the game."

"For your information," Macy replied, turning around in her seat, "Kevin happens to be the guy of my dreams and a member of my favorite band ever. So I don't really care if my worrying about losing him before I even have him is getting in the way of your good time."

"Look, little girl…" the man began, before being cut off by the young girl sitting next to him.

"Daddy, wait!" the girl interrupted. She turned to Macy. "This Kevin wouldn't happen to be Kevin of JONAS, would he?"

"That's the rock star," Justin replied.

The girl gaped. "Then what are you still doing here? Go get your man before someone else gets a hold of him!"

"But…" Macy said. "I can't…I'm…I can't just leave the game."

The girl rolled her eyes. "Why not?"

"Well…because…Because I'm here with Justin. I can't just leave him to watch the game alone."

Justin laughed. "You think I need you here to enjoy the Nets game? I've got a megaphone." He held up the megaphone that had been sitting in his lap. "I've got my foam finger." He snatched his foam finger out of Macy's hand. "I've got…" he turned to the man behind them. "What's your name?"

"Tony."

"I've got Tony," Justin said. "I can enjoy the game with Tony just as easily as I can enjoy it with an emotionally unstable teenaged JONAS fanatic."

"Really?" Macy asked.

Justin smacked Macy with his foam finger once again. "What are you still doing here? Get in that limo and haul your butt to that firehouse!"

Macy stood up, grinning. "Thanks Justin. Tony. Tony's daughter."

Ponytail flying behind her, Macy rushed out of the stadium.

xoxoxo

"Oh, Linda," Kevin whispered, stroking the neck of his guitar. "It's good to have you back. You don't know what these last three days have been like without you."

He strummed on the strings, not worrying about anyone overhearing him, as he was in the only place he could ever be alone. The rooftop of the firehouse.

"First Justin transferred to Horace Mantis," Kevin explained to Linda. "Then I fell down the stairs. Then Justin asked Macy out. Then I failed my biology test." He began to absentmindedly play Macy's song on the strings. "But now I have you back, and things can only get better."

"You have who back?"

Startled, Kevin snapped his attention toward the speaker. To his surprise, Macy Misa's head was peeking over the edge of the roof. She waved at him with a foam-fingered hand.

"Macy!" he cried. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, you got Linda back!" Macy said, climbing onto the roof and walking in Kevin's direction.

"How did you find me here?" Kevin asked.

"Star Stalker magazine," Macy explained, as though it should have been obvious. "I read that your favorite place to be alone is on your roof."

"What happened to the basketball game?" Kevin asked.

"Didn't feel like being there," Macy said simply, taking a seat beside Kevin.

"But isn't it, like, the biggest basketball game you've ever been to?"

Macy nodded.

"Let me get this straight," Kevin said. "You'd rather be sitting on my roof with me and Linda than at a New Jersey Nets game with Jo—Justin?"

"Absolutely."

"So you and Justin aren't…"

"Absolutely not."

"Good. I mean…oh. That is interesting. Very interesting news."

"Well, it's good to know that you're so…interested."

"Macy, can I ask you something."

Macy nodded eagerly.

"How do you hold your foam finger?"

Macy looked both disappointed and confused. "What?"

"Well, most people hold their hands flat inside the foam finger," Kevin explained. "And my brothers think I'm weird because I don't hold it that way."

"How do you hold it?" Macy asked.

"With my finger pointing up, like the foam one."

Macy smiled and held out her foam finger toward him. "Pull my finger."

"Oh, no," Kevin refused. "I'm not falling for that."

Macy laughed. "I meant, pull the foam finger off of my hand."

"Oh."

Kevin reached for Macy's foam finger. When her hand was revealed, he found that it was indeed balled into a fist, with her index finger pointing up.

"I can't chant 'We're number one!' with my hand lying flat," Macy explained. "It just doesn't feel right."

"I know, right?"

Macy laughed. "So, uh, may I ask you a question now, Kevin Lucas?"

"Yes, Macy Misa?"

"What do you do when you climb up on rooftop?"

"Oh, you know," Kevin replied. "Play my guitar. Talk to it like it can hear me."

Macy laughed.

"Mostly I just watch the stars," Kevin admitted. "And, you know, contemplate and stuff."

"Mind if I contemplate and stuff with you?"

"I would enjoy that."

Macy lay down on her back, cradling her head in her hands. "I can see why you love this place. The stars do seem more beautiful from up here."

"I think it depends more on who you're with than where you are," Kevin replied.

Macy felt her cheeks grow warm, and she was glad it was too dark for Kevin to see her blushing.

"That might have come out wrong," Kevin said, his own cheeks heating up.

"It sounded right to me," Macy replied, boldly.

The two were silent for a while, both content with just being in the other's presence and watching the stars from the firehouse rooftop.

"Macy," Kevin said, after what felt like hours of silence.

"Mm hmm?"

"Can I talk to you about something?"

"Mm hmm."

"It's about…well, it's about you and me."

"Mm."

Kevin set his guitar on the roof beside him. "The truth is, I like you. I mean, _really_ like you. A lot. And it's like lately all I ever think about is you and all that I look forward to is the next time I get to see you. I think you're something special, and I think that we could have something special. I mean, if you want to. W-what do you think about that? Macy? Macy?"

"She's choking," Macy mumbled. "Take away the gummy bears."

"Macy, are you sleep talking?"

Macy's only reply was a soft snore from her nostrils.

Kevin laughed and shook his head in disbelief. Sighing, he removed his jacket and gently draped it over Macy.

"Sweet dreams, Macy," he whispered, before lying down on his back beside her and falling fast asleep.

**I'm sure you probably hate me after how that chapter ended. They keep getting so close and then I ruin it for them. I'd apologize, but I'm not actually sorry, because I'm sadistic and I like to make the characters and the readers who want so badly for them to get together to suffer. That's just how I am.**

**Next chapter: Rooftops and Thrift Shops**


	11. Rooftops and Thrift Shops

**I'd like to thank all of you who left reviews chewing me out for not updating. If not for you, I might not be posting this chapter today. But I do have a decent excuse for not updating when I planned to. I had a day off work when I planned to sit and write this chapter, but the day before that, I got rear-ended by some idiot who doesn't know that you're supposed to hit your brakes when there are two cars stopped at a red light in front of you. I found out the next day that there is no comfortable way to sit at a computer when you have whiplash, so I watched murder shows all day and iced my neck. So you can blame the moron in the red pickup that I didn't update sooner. Really really really really really really sorry.**

**I don't own JONAS.**

**14 Reasons Why Not**

**Chapter 11: Rooftops and Thrift Shops**

"Where's Kevin?" Stella asked, bursting into the boys' bedroom on Saturday afternoon.

Nick shrugged. "Haven't seen him all morning."

"Macy's not answering her cell," Stella said. "I figured she was with him. Actually, I was hoping she was with him."

"I doubt it," Joe replied. "I think Kevin's still on the roof. I haven't seen him since he climbed up there last night."

"Can't hurt to check," Stella said, grabbing Joe's hand. "Let's go."

The two boys obediently followed Stella to the rooftop of the firehouse, where they were surprised to find that Macy had indeed joined Kevin. The two were both still fast asleep, and both laying on their backs, as close as they could be laying next to each other without actually touching.

"Would you look at those two?" Stella cried in frustration. "They fell asleep together and they're not snuggling or anything. They're not even holding hands."

Macy stirred at the sound of Stella's voice. "Don't touch it!" she cried. "No, put that down!"

"Does she always talk in her sleep?" Nick whispered to Stella.

"Worst sleep talker ever," Stella answered.

"That's what you get," Macy said. "I told you not to touch it."

"Touch what, Mace?" Joe asked.

Macy sucked in a sharp breath and abruptly rolled over onto her side draping her arm over Kevin and burying her face in his shoulder. Kevin responded by placing his hand over hers and turning his head so that his chin touched her forehead.

"Now that's more like it," Stella said. "Let's leave these two alone, boys. My work here is done."

"What work?" Nick asked, following Stella and Joe down the ladder. "You can't give yourself credit for making Macy roll over in her sleep."

"And why can't I?"

"Don't argue with her, Nicholas," Joe advised. "You will not win."

As the three voices grew farther away, Macy's brown eyes fluttered open. She knew immediately that something was not right. The floor beneath her was too hard to be her bed, and whatever she was resting her head on was too firm and sweet-smelling to be her pillow. And was that chin stubble brushing against her forehead? She stopped breathing when she remembered where she was. When did she fall asleep?

Groaning inwardly, she sat up, gently sliding her hand from underneath Kevin's. She could picture a million ways for Kevin to misinterpret the situation if he woke up to her cuddling up to him. Besides, snuggling while unconscious was innocent, but to continue snuggling while she was awake…well, that was intentional, and she couldn't find a way to justify that in her head, as badly as she wanted to.

Absentmindedly, she slipped her arms into the jacket that had been draped over her. She wondered what time it was. Normally, by the time she woke up on a Saturday, it would be warm outside. She reached into the pocket of her jeans for her cell phone, but was surprised to find that it was not there. Frowning, she stood up and scanned the rooftop for it. She shook her head in dismay. Unless Kevin was sleeping on it, her phone was not on the Lucas's rooftop, and she was not about to try reaching under him while he slept. She shrugged it off. Macy lost her cell phone about three times every week, and it always turned up later. She'd probably left it in her mom's thrift store or in her locker at school. But she wasn't Stella. She could survive for days without a cell phone.

Even so, she still had no way to check the time on Kevin's roof, and she was sure that her mom would want to know where she was. Sighing, she looked at the sleeping boy at her feet. She felt bad leaving without saying goodbye, especially after she had fallen asleep while he was talking to her. She considered saying goodbye in a nonverbal way.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she dropped to her knees and brushed her lips just beside the corner of his mouth. She shot back up, regretting it as soon as she had done it. If she felt wrong laying her head on him while he was asleep, she was sure _that_ was not okay. For a minute, she thought she saw his eyes flutter open. But they were closed again just as quickly, and his soft snoring let her know that he was still sleeping.

Blushing at the goodbye that he could never know about, Macy turned away and rushed down the ladder.

xoxoxo

"_I can still feel it…I can…feel it…still. And I can feel it still_," Joe sang, picking at his guitar, notebook lying open at his feet. He was sitting in the alley next to the firehouse, leaning against the brick wall next to the ladder that led to the roof. Frowning, he leaned forward and scratched something out on his notebook before going back to his guitar. "_I've loved you since the day we_…Macy, hi! Did you sleep well?"

Macy was so startled by Joe's presence that she fell off the end of the ladder. "Joe of JONAS!" she cried, climbing to her feet and brushing off her knees. "What are you doing here?"

Joe raised his eyebrows. "I live here."

"Right," Macy said, blushing. "Had a bit of a fan girl moment there."

"How was the game?" Joe asked.

"I don't know," Macy replied. "I didn't stay long."

Joe nodded, knowingly. "So…you and Kevin?"

"Is that a question?"

"Come on, Mace. The suspense is killing us all."

Macy sighed. "I know. It's killing me too."

"So why don't you just end it? The suspense, I mean."

Macy crossed her arms. "Look who's talking."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Joe replied, defiantly.

"Oh yeah? What are you writing?"

Joe hung his head. "Songaboutstella," he mumbled.

"What's that?" Macy asked, putting a hand to her ear.

"A song about Stella," Joe sighed.

Macy grinned. "Is that right? I'll let you get to it then."

"Macy, wait!" Joe cried, as she began walking away.

She turned back. "Yeah?"

"Will you…Will you read it? I just thought since you're Stella's best friend you might…be able to tell me whether it sucks?"

Macy nodded, smiling. She sat beside Joe and held out her hand for the notebook, which he hesitantly handed to her. He watched her eagerly as she looked over the page. If he was reading her facial expressions correctly, then Kevin was right. His song was cheesy. Cheese-tastic. The most cheese-tastic song ever written.

"W-what did you think?" Joe asked, as Macy handed his notebook back to him.

Macy chose her words carefully, fighting back the urge to tell him that it was the most cheese-tastic thing she'd ever read. "I think…it's sweet. And Stella would think so, too. I think that Stella would love anything you wrote for her no matter how…" Her voice trailed off.

"How bad it is?" Joe filled in.

Macy offered him a sympathetic smile. "It was kind of bad."

"But you think Stella would like it?"

"I know she would. And that's what's important, right?"

Joe nodded. "Thanks, Macy."

"I'd better go," Macy said, standing up. "My mom's probably about ready to kill me. See you, Joe."

"Good luck with your mom," Joe called after her.

"Good luck with Stella," she called back.

xoxoxo

Before he even opened his eyes, Kevin knew that the sun was directly above him. The sunlight beating down on him was bright enough that he could see the tiny veins in his eyelids. Cautiously, he blinked and sat up, welcoming the daylight. He was disappointed to discover that he was alone. He had just woken from the most wonderful and vivid dream he'd ever had. Macy was in it, and she'd been leaning over him, her hands on his chest. And she'd kissed him. It was so real; he could still feel it on the corner of his mouth.

He shook his head. This had gone on long enough. It was time to tell Macy how he really felt, and this time she would be awake when he told her. Taking a deep breath, he fished his cell phone out of his pocket scrolled down his contact list, hitting "send" when he located the desired number.

"Hello?" the voice answered after the first ring.

"Hey Stells," Kevin replied.

"Hey Kev," Stella greeted. "What's up?"

"It's about Macy."

"This isn't about the tabloids, is it?"

"Huh?"

"You didn't see the new one?"

"Uh, no."

"Oh. Well never mind then. What about Macy?"

"I need her phone number."

He could practically hear Stella's grin from the other end. "Excellent."

xoxoxo

"Hey, Mom," Macy greeted her mother, strolling casually into her mother's thrift shop.

Macy's mother did not look pleased to see her daughter. "Don't you 'Hey Mom' me, Macy Misa," she scolded, dropping the jacket she had been about to hang on a rack. "How do you expect me to trust you after last night? Do you know what kind of things were running through my head? You, out in the middle of the night with a boy? Not answering your phone. I'm glad I finally thought to call Stella at 2 a.m., or I'd have never found out where you were."

"Stella?"

"Yes, Stella. You know I'm fine with you staying the night at your best friend's house, but you have to call me and tell me where you are. I was worried sick."

"Stella's house. Yeah," Macy replied, trying to thank her best friend telepathically for covering for her. "I'm sorry, Mom. Actually, I kinda lost my phone. I thought it might be here."

Macy's mom shook her head. "It's not here. Did you leave it at school?"

Macy shrugged. "Maybe. I guess I'll find out on Monday."

"Hope you weren't expecting any calls before then."

"Expecting? No. Hoping, yes."

"From that Kevin boy?" a customer butted in. Macy hadn't noticed her there before, but the old woman who had been there the previous weekend was back, this time, carrying a basket containing a bundle of glass grapes and a coffee mug that said, "World's Greatest Grandma." She had a hard time believing that this woman's grandmother was still alive, so she could only assume that she was buying the mug to display in her own kitchen to make people believe her grandchildren had bought it for her, perhaps because her own grandchildren did not believe her to be the world's greatest grandma. Macy didn't know what surprised her more, seeing the old woman again, or the fact that she apparently remembered the details of Macy's love life.

"Does she live here?" Macy whispered to her mother, who shrugged in reply.

"Remember what I told you," the woman reminded Macy, "about waiting around for stubborn boys."

Macy's mom turned to her daughter, a concerned look on her face. "Should I be worried that this strange woman knows more about your personal life than I do?"

"Are you still interested in the band boy?" the old woman asked Macy. "Or is it the football player now?"

Macy gasped. "How do you know about Justin?"

"Honey, I thought you said you and Justin were just friends," her mother said, confused.

"We are."

"Not according to this," the old woman replied, pulling a magazine from her massive purse.

Macy snatched the magazine away from the old woman, reading the headline. "_**Kevin's mystery girl revealed!**_" Macy swallowed hard and flipped the magazine open to the article about Kevin. "_Kevin Lucas of the teen band JONAS has been keeping us all in the dark about his mystery girl, but finally, our questions are answered. According to an unnamed source, the mystery girl is Lucas's classmate, Macy Misa. Misa has a reputation with her peers as being a tough girl, interested in many different sports. She also has a reputation for being interested in many different boys. Among these boys is Kevin Lucas, a member of her favorite band. Also among these boys, is mystery girl's own mystery boy, identified as Justin Weiss. A football player formerly of Green View High in Arizona, Justin reportedly showed immediate interest in Macy upon his arrival…_"

"This isn't true," Macy cried, unable to read any more of the article. "Why would someone tell these lies about me?"

"Because," the old woman explained, "it makes for some good reading."

xoxoxo

"Hey, Mace. It's Kevin. Again. You're probably not answering any of my calls because your phone is turned off. Or you're grounded for not going home last night. Or you just don't want to talk to me," Kevin wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans, nervously. "But that's okay. I just called to talk. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something kind of important, so if you could just call me back whenever you can. Um…that's it. Talk to you later. Maybe. Bye."

Kevin flipped his phone shut and tossed it onto his pillow, turning his attention to his opened math book. He tried to interpret the equations before him, but his focus was off. All he could see was a mess of numbers and symbols that he couldn't force himself to plug in to the formulas he had learned the day before. His eyes scanned down the page, then drifted off of the page to the sleeve of his shirt, across his hand-sewn quilt, and onto the shiny black object calling to him from his pillow.

Sighing, he snatched up his cell phone and hit the two, the speed dial key he'd designated for Macy after Stella gave him her number. Just as it had the last four times he had called her, it rang six times before going to her voicemail.

"Hey, it's Macy. I couldn't pick up, but leave me a message, and I'll think about getting back to you. Unless you're that skeezy guy who works at the movie theater and found my number written in one of the bathroom stalls, in which case, stop calling me. Here's the beep."

"Um, it's me again," Kevin said. "I don't know what you're up to right now, but I really hope you're not mad at me. If I did something to upset you, just tell me, and, you know, hopefully we can work it out. It wasn't on purpose; whatever it is I did. Does it have something to do with that article about you in Star Stalker magazine? Or the one in The Daily Dish? Or the segment about you on Celebrity News on the entertainment channel? Because I swear I never gave those reporters your name. I would never do that. Or tell those lies about you and Justin being caught making out under the bleachers. That was a lie, right? I mean, of course it is. So, um, just call me back."

He hung up and then promptly reopened his phone and hit the two again. Once again, her voicemail picked up after six rings, and he waited for the beep.

"Macy, it's Kevin. I just called to say that I'm sorry for leaving you so many messages. Including this one. Okay, bye."

Kevin tossed his phone aside again, and tried to focus on his math homework. He bit his bottom lip as he read the same equation over and over, trying to make sense of it. He tapped his pencil in frustration as the numbers on the page became more and more jumbled. Math drifted out of his mind, as he eyed the cell phone laying on his pillow.

xoxoxo

"Justin."

"Yeah, Dad?"

Justin's father handed him a blue flip phone. "This was under one of the seats in the limo. Is it yours?"

"No," Justin replied, flipping the phone open to see JONAS wallpaper, a banner reading "JONAS #1 SUPERFAN", and a message informing him that there had been thirteen missed calls. "It must be Macy's. And someone's been trying to call her."

"Better answer it next time," his dad said. "It could be her trying to find her phone."

Justin nodded. "Yeah, I will."

Before he had even finished the sentence, the phone began to blare out an upbeat JONAS ringtone. Both he and his dad stared wide-eyed at the cell phone.

His dad pointed to the blue phone in his son's hand. "Okay, that was spooky."

xoxoxo

Kevin was about to give up after the fourth ring, when, to his surprise, the ringing stopped.

"Hello?" said the voice on the other end.

"Uh, hi," Kevin responded, surprised to hear a guy's voice instead of Macy's. "I think I might have the wrong number."

"Rockstar?" the voice said.

Kevin nearly dropped his phone. "Justin?"

"Yeah, it's me. What's up?"

He couldn't believe it. This was why Macy had been ignoring his calls all day? Because she was hanging out with Jock Strap? It was as if he'd been slapped across the face.

"Rockstar? Hello?"

"I have to go," Kevin said, quickly. "I've gotta get back to my math homework."

"Wait a sec. I—"

Kevin hung up before Justin could say another word. He felt stupid for calling so many times. He'd actually believed he was getting somewhere with Macy, and then he found out that she was ignoring him for his arch nemesis. The anti-Kevin. How could he have believed that an athletic girl like Macy could like him over a muscular, smooth-haired guy like Justin?

He began to hit himself on the forehead repeatedly with his heavy trigonometry text book.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," he muttered over and over, not hearing his brothers clamber up the stairs.

"Should we stop him?" he heard Joe's voice say.

"I don't know," Nick replied. "On one hand, this is the closest he's ever come to getting any use out of a math book. But then again, we don't want to lose an awesome guitarist if he hurts himself."

Joe pried the book from his older brother's hands and set it on Kevin's pillow on top of his cell phone.

"We're not going to ask you why you were just hitting yourself and calling yourself stupid," Nick informed him. "We just came up here to ask you if you've called Macy today."

Kevin swallowed hard. "A few times."

"Good," Joe replied, handing him the yellow notepad. "Then I assume you have something for our list. Unless, of course, you're ready to admit that you like Macy and finally ask her out."

Kevin snatched the pen from Joe's hand and scribbled something down before shoving the notepad back at his brother and picking up his text book once again. He then continued his act of hitting himself on the head with it while muttering, "Stupid, stupid, stupid."

Joe and Nick peered at what Kevin had written on the page. "**Reason #11: She makes me stupid.**"

"I'm kind of curious," Nick whispered to Joe, as the two tiptoed away. "But at the same time, I'm glad we didn't ask."

**Thanks for reading. Please review. My new Kacy story is coming together, but I have a bit of a problem: I have a major OC who still doesn't have a name. So this might be kind of a weird request, but could I have some suggestions for a guy's name?**

**Next Chapter: Missed Calls and Locked Doors**


	12. Missed Calls and Locked Doors

**This is my longest chapter yet. I packed a lot into this, so hopefully it flows. You'll finally see the return of Jerry Valentine. I wasn't planning on having him appear again after the third chapter, but some people wanted to see him again, so I worked him into this chapter. I'm not sure how well it worked out, so we'll see. Oh, and you will see Joe's complete cheese-tastic Stella song.**

**Did anyone else think it was freaky that last week I uploaded a chapter with more tabloid romance stuff and then the new JONAS episode was all about Joe's tabloid romance? And they even called Stella his "mystery girl". Spooky.**

**Oh, by the way, I made a 14 Reasons Why Not fan fiction trailer and put it on YouTube. If you want to watch it, I'm called smileybubbles08 there too. I meant to mention this when I uploaded my last chapter, but I was in a hurry to upload before I had to be somewhere, so it was forgotten. I also forgot to congratulate Frankie Jonas on winning a Teen Choice Award. Well deserved. That kid's a total stud. I say that in a totally non-creepy way, of course.**

**Okay, all done rambling now.**

**I don't own JONAS.**

**14 Reasons Why Not**

**Chapter 12: Missed Calls and Locked Doors**

When Sunday rolled around, Macy came to the conclusion that her cell phone must be at school in her locker. She'd searched for it everywhere, and it was simply nowhere to be found. She was disappointed at not finding it, as she was dying to text Stella all about her sleepover on the roof.

She found that without her phone, working in her mom's thrift shop on a Sunday afternoon was about as boring as being benched during her team's basketball games because she'd fouled out during the first quarter. Unable to text Stella, she had to find things to do around the shop. She'd already hung up all of the newly donated clothes, alphabetized the VHS tapes, swept the floor, squeegeed the windows, and sorted the shoes by size. Now with nothing left to do, she was sitting at the desk, flipping through a magazine and humming off-tune the song that Kevin had tried to teach her on his guitar. When she heard the ringing of the bell above the door, she looked up eagerly, excited for anyone to talk to, even if it was just the nosy old woman with the questionable taste and disloyal grandchildren. When she saw who had entered, she wrinkled her nose. She'd have preferred the old woman.

"What are you doing here, Valentine?"

Jerry Valentine had entered the thrift shop, followed, as usual, by two of his friends from the tennis team, Pete Banting, and a guy named Talon who was known for being fast on the court but slow in the head.

"We had a tennis meeting during practice on Friday," Pete explained. "We're here to fill you in since you missed it. And the first order of business…well, Jerry can explain that to you."

Jerry sighed. "After your stunt at the mall last week, word got around about my 'sexual harassment'." Macy raised her eyebrows at his use of air quotes. "And coach heard about it. So I'm supposed to apologize to you."

"Was that the apology?" Macy asked. "Because I'm not really feeling it."

Jerry sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Tell her what else you're sorry for, Jer," said Talon.

Jerry sighed again. "I was kind of peeved at you and Kevin for starting that rumor about me…"

"The mostly true rumor," Pete cut in, receiving a deadly glare from Jerry. Pete backed away, wide-eyed.

"So," Jerry continued. "I got back at you."

"Tell her what you did, Jer," said Talon, eagerly.

"I spread a rumor about you," Jerry mumbled, staring at his shoes.

"Jerry Valentine," Macy said, seizing the frightened boy by the collar. "Did you talk to a reporter about me?"

"Maybe," Jerry squeaked.

"Tell her you're sorry, Jer," said Talon.

Jerry clenched his teeth, obviously trying hard not to roll his eyes—an effort which Macy appreciated, strangely enough. "I'm sorry," he growled.

"You're forgiven," Macy replied, dropping Jerry's collar and crossing her arms. "But you do realize that I'm going to have to get you back, right?"

Jerry nodded. "It's to be expected. I kind of hate you, but at the same time, I have to respect you for it."

"Good," Macy replied. "You'd better watch your back, Valentine."

"Okay then," Pete cut in. "Onto the second order of business. We've come up with a way to raise the rest of the money we need for new uniforms."

"Yay, tell me!" Macy cheered, clapping her hands in excitement.

"We're having a jersey auction."

Macy's face fell. "A jersey auction?"

"Don't sound so excited," Pete said.

"A jersey auction," Macy repeated. "As in, standing in front of the student body one at a time while people shout out bids to wear our tennis jerseys?"

"What better way to raise money for new uniforms than selling our old ones?" Jerry pointed out.

Macy threw up her hands. "I'm the only girl on the tennis team! No one is going to bid on a girl's jersey."

The three boys just stared at her, confused.

"Look," Macy said, unrolling the sleeves of Kevin's jacket, which she'd been wearing since the previous morning on the roof. "Girls want to wear guys' shirts because it's like, marking their territory. But guys are too macho to wear a girl's tennis jersey."

"Don't sweat it," Pete replied, slapping Macy on the back. "Stella will buy your jersey."

Macy was not reassured, but dropped the subject.

"Well, that's pretty much all we came here for," Jerry said, obviously eager to leave. "We'll just leave you to your girly magazine and your bad singing. Come on Pete, Talon."

But before Jerry could drag his friends out of the thrift shop, Kevin burst in, cradling his guitar in his arms like it was a child.

"Kevin!" Macy cried. "What are you doing here?"

Kevin struggled to shut the door on the sea of magazine-waving hands and flashing cameras outside. He didn't stop to catch his breath until the door was locked and bolted.

"More crazed fans?" Macy asked.

"Worse… Bombarded…by reporters," Kevin explained between gasps.

"That's unfortunate and all," Jerry replied, "but we need to get out of here. We were about to head to the—"

"No one goes in or out of these doors," Kevin cut him off. "It's too risky. You'll let them in."

"Like I said, that's too bad, but it's not my problem."

"Oh yes it is," Macy replied, stepping up to the door and standing beside Kevin. "Do you think those reporters would be half as interested in Kevin right now if you hadn't gone to them with your little celebrity love triangle story?"

"Wait," Kevin said, gasping for air. "Valentine was the reliable unnamed source?"

Jerry grinned. "Pretty brilliant, right?"

"So we're stuck here?" Pete asked. "For how long? I'm supposed to be meeting Tessa in an hour. Apparently it's our one week-iversary."

"Don't worry," Macy said. "We just have to call someone for help."

"Good thinking," Talon replied. "Call your mom. She owns this place, right? She can tell the reporters to get lost."

"I would," Macy said. "But I lost my phone. Haven't seen it since Friday."

Kevin's eyes widened and his face reddened. "Really?"

"Yeah, I lose my phone all the time."

"So you didn't have it yesterday?"

Macy shook her head. "Why don't you call your parents?"

"I lost mine too," Kevin admitted, his face turning a darker shade of crimson. "Sometime between breakfast and lunch. "

"How about one of you?" Macy asked, looking at her fellow tennis players desperately.

"My dad took mine away when he saw my phone bill," Jerry said.

"My mom took mine away when she heard on the radio that cell phones carry staph infections," Pete said.

"I dropped mine in the toilet," said Talon.

"So nobody here has a phone?" Kevin asked in disbelief. "What are the odds of that?"

"How long are we gonna be stuck in here?" Talon asked, his eyes wide with fear.

"My mom will come when I don't come home after my shift," Macy assured him.

"And when does your shift end?" Jerry asked.

"Eight o'clock."

"At night?" Pete gasped.

"No, Peter. Eight A.M. Pacific time," Jerry snapped.

Somehow, this caused Pete and Jerry to get into an argument about Jerry being a jerk and Pete being a traitor and Jerry being manipulative and Pete being spineless. Then, Pete, to prove he wasn't spineless, lunged at Jerry, knocking him to the floor, and the two rolled around throwing punches that mostly landed on the carpet and clothing racks around them than on each other.

"This is just like the Twilight Zone!" Kevin cried, dramatically. "Trapped in a thrift store for five minutes, and already they're being driven mad!"

"Will you two knock it off?" Macy cried, as she and Talon pulled the two boys apart. "Look, guys. Whether we like it or not, we're stuck in here. So let's just make the best of it."

"Do they fight like that a lot?" Kevin asked Talon, looking a bit frightened.

"Of course," Talon replied. "They're best friends."

xoxoxo

"You guys, I've been texting Macy all day and she hasn't answered me," Stella told Joe and Nick, worriedly, wandering into their room.

"Macy's fine," Joe assured her. "You worry too much."

"Joe's right," Nick agreed. "What could possibly be wrong?"

"Let's see," Stella replied. "She could be in a dark alleyway being mugged by thugs in ski masks. She could be tied up in the back of a semi trailer. She could be—"

"Hanging out with Kevin," Nick cut her off. "Look, he hasn't answered his phone all day either. Doesn't it seem more likely that they're just ignoring us because they're having too good a time together?"

"I guess so," Stella said, looking unsure. "But Macy's never ignored eleven of my text messages in a row. Maybe I should just go to the thrift shop and…"

"No!" Joe and Nick shouted in unison.

"Look, if they're together, you can't just go interrupting them," Nick said. "Remember last time we interrupted them?"

Stella cringed, remembering the near-kiss they had walked in on.

"It's day twelve of our bet," Joe reminded her. "And Kevin is this close to admitting he likes Macy." He held his fingers centimeters apart. "If we don't get him to admit it in the next two days, he never will. You know Kevin."

Stella sighed. "Fine. I won't go to the thrift shop. But I'm calling Kevin. He might answer me."

Ignoring Joe and Nick's objections, Stella hit Kevin's speed dial key and listened for the ring.

"Did you hear that?" Joe whispered to Nick, looking around.

"I think it's coming from the kitchen," Nick replied.

"Boys!" their father shouted from the kitchen. "Why is the cookie jar ringing?"

xoxoxo

"So…you're wearing my jacket," Kevin said.

He and Macy were seated against the door, Kevin strumming on his guitar, while Jerry, Pete, and Talon were keeping themselves entertained by running around the clothing racks playing keep-away with a rolled-up towel.

"Sorry," Macy said, blushing. "I didn't mean to steal it from you. I just had it on when I woke up on your roof and…"

"It's okay," Kevin assured her. "It looks better on you than it does on me anyways."

Macy smiled and looked at the scuffed toes of her high tops shyly.

"I mean it," Kevin said.

"I think it fits me pretty well," Macy replied, holding out her arms. The shoulders sagged around her small frame and the ends of the sleeves extended well past her fingertips.

"You can keep it. I mean, if you want to."

"Thanks, Kevin."

Kevin opened his mouth to reply, but no words came out. There was something about the way Macy said his name. He couldn't explain it, but it left him lost for words.

"Kevin? Are you okay?"

"I…uh…"

Looking concerned, Macy put a hand on his shoulder. A bolt of electricity ran from his shoulder to his fingertips, and his arm gave an involuntary jerk. Unfortunately, he was still holding his guitar, and as he jerked his arm, the neck of the guitar swung around and hit Macy directly in the eye.

"I am so sorry!" Kevin cried, crouching over Macy as she clutched her swelling eye.

Apparently Jerry, Pete, and Talon had seen what happened, because the next thing Kevin knew, they were all standing around the two.

"Are you okay, Macy?" Talon asked.

"Dude, you hit a girl?" Jerry asked Kevin in disbelief. "Even I wouldn't do that. Even if she is a pain in the butt like Misa."

"You should put some ice on that," Pete advised, elbowing his friend in the side.

Macy nodded, pointed toward a door on the other side of the room labeled: "Authorized Personnel Only". "My mom keeps an ice pack in the deep freeze in the back room," she said.

Together, the three boys left to find an ice pack.

"Does it look bad?" Macy asked, moving her hand away from her eye.

"Well…remember how you told me that you always wanted a black eye?"

Macy nodded.

"It looks like you're gonna get your wish."

Macy half smiled and half winced at him. "Do I look tough?"

"Like you could beat up the entire tennis team."

Pete returned moments later holding and ice pack wrapped in a wash cloth. He handed it to Kevin, who held it gingerly to Macy's eye. Macy tried to shrink back, but Kevin put his free hand to her face to keep her still.

"Better?" he asked.

"Much," she whispered.

"Pete! Keep away from Talon!" Jerry called from across the room.

"I'll just leave you two alone then," Pete said rushing away.

"So…" Macy said, once they were alone again. "Still trying to come up with lyrics for that song?"

"Mm," Kevin replied.

"Huh?"

"Ungh," Kevin said, unintelligibly. He meant to answer her question, but somewhere between his brain and his mouth, the words were getting lost. He was trying not to think about the fact that his fingertips were touching her hair, and hers were touching his leg.

"Um, okay," Macy said. She took the ice pack from Kevin's hands and handed him his guitar. "Here. Play."

Kevin obediently took the guitar.

"Go on," Macy urged him. "Keep playing your song."

"It's not my song," Kevin corrected her. "It's yours."

xoxoxo

"Frankie, you're eight years old," Stella told the youngest member of the Lucas family from across his kitchen table. "You can't already have your entire future planned out, let alone your brothers' futures."

"Not a plan," Frankie amended. "It's just what's going to happen. The inevitable future of a young band."

"All right," Stella gave in. "Tell me what you think is in store for JONAS."

"Well, in a few years, the band will break up when Kevin gets married and starts a family and Joe embarks on a solo career," Frankie said. "Nick will finish college and continue writing songs while starring in a reality show about a celebrity doing every day things like filling his gas tank, laying shingles on the roof, and berthing cows. Joe will star in his own reality show, in which women compete to be the one he loves for the rest of his life until the next season. Kevin will direct low-budget films for children while raising his own six kids. Then, when they're in their mid-forties and Joe has finished filming the final season of JONAS of Love, JONAS will go on a reunion tour. Meanwhile, I will have a successful acting career and be named People's Hottest Bachelor of 2034.

Stella laughed. "That's very amusing, Frankie."

Frankie took a sip of his chocolate milk. "Let's see how amusing you find it in ten years."

"I see you've been entertaining our guest," said Nick, entering the kitchen. "Hey, Stells. If you're looking for Joe, he's in the studio writing a song about you. Frankie, I think we need to have a talk about cracking the lock code that Mom and Dad put on TV shows you're not allowed to watch."

"I didn't crack their code!" Frankie objected. "Joe wrote it down and left it right where I could reach it with a step ladder and a stack of encyclopedias!"

Nick ushered Frankie out of the room telling him, "Next we'll have a talk on what is and isn't safe to stand on."

Stella shook her head, grinning. Frankie was something else. And what was that Nick had said about Joe? Writing a song about her?

If there was any truth to that comment, Stella was about to find out. On tiptoe, Stella made her way up the stairs to the JONAS recording studio, staying crouched down when she reached the top so she could remain out of sight.

She heard the slow picking of notes one by one on an acoustic guitar, and she smiled to herself when she heard Joe's voice.

"_I remember back when we were kids, I used to pull your hair.  
It was the only way I knew back then to show you that I care.  
And I'd chase you on the playground but you always ran too fast.  
You're still the only girl today I'll ever try to catch.  
I'd play the prince with your glass slipper  
and you'll be my Cinderella.  
Looks like a perfect fit to me,  
my one and only Stella._

"_A romance meant to last forever  
and the feelings never died.  
I pushed you on the swings  
and I chased you down the slide.  
You kissed me on the cheek  
and I can feel it still  
because I've loved you since the day we met  
and I know I always will._

"_I remember waiting by the school bus when it began to storm  
and I wrapped you in my jacket and a hug to keep you warm.  
I took your hand in mine and I kept a firm grip  
so I could help you over puddles 'cause I could never let you slip.  
Won't let you stand in the rain.  
There's room under my umbrella.  
Looks like a perfect fit to me,  
my one and only Stella._

"_A romance meant to last forever  
and the feelings never died.  
I pushed you on the swings  
and I chased you down the slide.  
You kissed me on the cheek  
and I can feel it still  
because I've loved you since the day we met  
and I know I always will."_

Stella considered making her presence known, but she decided against it. She hummed quietly as she made her way back down the stairs. Joe had just told her he loved her. It was only a matter of time before he would tell her directly.

xoxoxo

Pete let out a long sigh, his face flattened out against his hands and his elbows resting on his knees. "Are we ever getting out of here?"

"Ask that one more time," Jerry replied, "and I'll see to it that you never get out of here alive. And will somebody tell the band boy to knock it off with the guitar? That song's gonna be in my head forever."

The five teenagers were in a circle on the floor of the thrift shop, surrounded by boxes and clothing racks. Kevin was playing his guitar, Macy was icing her bruising eye and staring dreamily at Kevin, Pete was busy smooshing his cheeks together to make his lips pucker out like a fish's, Jerry was drawing invisible pictures on the carpet with his finger, and Talon was keeping himself occupied by banging his head rhythmically against a wooden crate.

"Me?" Kevin asked, refusing to stop playing. "I'm not the one beating out my brains on a box."

Talon looked offended. "Well at least I didn't beat up my girlfriend with a guitar."

"That's enough," Macy interjected. "All of you. No, Kevin. I didn't mean stop playing."

"Does anyone else feel like we're in The Breakfast Club?" Pete asked through pursed lips. "Only without the drugs and the crazy principal?"

"Not everyone watches movies from before they were born," Jerry reminded Pete.

"Have those reporters died down at all?" Macy sighed.

"Actually, I think they've gotten worse," Pete replied.

"This is your fault," Jerry told Kevin. "Do you have to bring your boy band drama with you everywhere you go?"

"He wouldn't have to," Macy reminded Jerry coldly, "if some people wouldn't go to reporters with their made up 'boy band drama'."

"Hey, all's fair in love and war," Jerry said. "And this is definitely one of those."

Macy was about to respond, when the five of them heard a voice from outside bellow, "Hey! Get out of here! Have some respect."

"Is that who I think it is?" Kevin asked with a groan.

"Justin Weiss!" one of the reporters shouted. "Can you give us the details of your relationship with Macy Misa?"

"Is it true you're in a feud with Kevin of the band JONAS?"

"What kind of conditioner to you use, Justin?" a third reporter shouted.

"Don't you have lives?" Justin cried. They heard a loud banging on the glass door. "Macy, it's me! Open up!"

"Leave him out there," Jerry said immediately. "I don't like that guy."

"We have to let him in," Kevin objected.

"You just want to disagree with me," Jerry muttered, sulkily.

Kevin rolled his eyes. "I'm not Jock Strap's biggest fan either," he said. "But he has Macy's phone."

"How do you know he has my phone?" Macy asked.

"Don't ask. Just let him in."

Macy jumped up to unlock the door. She opened the door quickly, and shut it again immediately after Justin had tumbled inside.

"You have no idea how glad we are to see you," she told him.

"Some more than others," Kevin put in.

"I just came here to drop off your phone," Justin told Macy, handing her the blue flip phone. "I had no idea I'd be saving your life."

"Forget her life," Pete interrupted. "Dude, you're saving my week-iversary! Macy, call your mom! Make her get rid of the reporters!"

"How's Macy's mom gonna get rid of all of those reporters?" Justin asked. "The sidewalk is public property. What we need is a decoy."

"A decoy?" Jerry repeated.

"Those reporters aren't going away until they see the famous love triangle they came for," Justin explained.

"So you want us to just waltz out there and offer ourselves to those bloodthirsty monsters?" Kevin objected.

"Of course not," Justin said. "That's what the decoy is for."

xoxoxo

"I can't believe you talked us into this," Jerry muttered, tugging uncomfortably at Kevin's ascot, which was now tied around his own neck.

Pete, who had the lightest hair of Macy's tennis teammates, was wearing Justin's clothing which fit him rather loosely, as Justin was a head taller than Pete. Pete's clothes, on the other hand, were quite snug on Justin.

"I don't know what you're complaining about," Justin told Jerry. "At least Kevin's clothes fit you."

"Well I, for one, am not complaining," Talon piped up, adjusting his long brown wig. "I was born to wear a dress."

Talon was the smallest of Macy's tennis teammates, but he was by no means small enough to wear the blouse and skirt that Macy wore under Kevin's jacket, so they found a dress that fit him on one of the clothing racks and managed to find a wig that looked somewhat like Macy's hair. He made an ugly girl, but slap some sunglasses on him, and you'd never know the difference once he was sprinting down the street, as Talon was known for being the fastest member of the tennis team.

"Okay, everyone knows the plan, right?" Justin said.

Pete nodded. "The three of us get out of here and run north so the reporters chase us."

"And then you, Kevin, and I get into your limo once the coast is clear," Macy finished.

"And when the reporters catch us and realize we're not you guys," Jerry said, "they'll be too late."

Justin grinned. "I'm brilliant."

"How about we wait to see whether this plan works before you go boasting of your awesomeness," Kevin suggested.

"Are you ready?" Macy asked her teammates.

"I've never been more ready for anything in my life," Talon said, hiking up the wax oranges he'd stuffed down the front of his dress.

"On the count of three," Macy said. "One. Two. Three!"

On the signal, the three boys swung the door open and made a mad dash down the street, followed, as planned, by the mob of reporters. Once they had turned a corner, Kevin, Macy, and Justin ran to Justin's limo.

"Where are you going?" Macy asked Justin, who was not climbing in the back beside her as she'd expected.

"I'm, uh, riding up front," Justin explained.

"Okay. Why?"

"I…don't like the limo driver to get lonely. I mean, it must be a lonely job, right? But you'll be in good company back here with Kevin, so I'll just leave you two alone now."

Macy had the feeling she'd been set up, as Justin dashed to the passenger side door.

"Soo," she said to Kevin, as the limousine began to move. "This is my third time riding in a limo this weekend."

"And the first time we've been alone all day," Kevin added. "Sorry again about your eye."

"Forget about it," Macy replied. "An eye for an eye, right? Now we're even."

"Not quite."

"What do you mean?"

Kevin leaned toward her and gave her a quick peck on her injured eye. "Entirely for medical purposes, of course," he explained quickly.

"It feels better already," Macy squeaked.

"Linda's sorry too," Kevin said, holding up his guitar.

"It's okay, Kevin," Macy assured him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I know Linda didn't mean it."

"Arky," Kevin mumbled. He'd meant to say "okay", but he was distracted by Macy's hand on his shoulder and the way she had just said his name.

"Kevin? Are you okay?"

"Urm ha."

xoxoxo

"When you say 'anything with wheels', does that include skateboards?" Frankie asked Nick, as the front door swung open. "Hi, Kevin!"

"Hey, Kevin," Stella greeted. "Your dad found your phone in the cookie jar earlier. I think it's still in there."

"That's where I left it! I knew I put it somewhere where I'd never lose it, but then I forgot where I put it."

"Notepad's on the table," Nick informed him. "In case you have anything to add to the list."

"As a matter of fact, I do," Kevin replied, strolling over to the table and jotting something down on the yellow notepad. "Is Joe still writing that cheesy song? Because if he is, I want to listen so I can make fun of him."

Frankie retrieved the yellow notepad from the table as Kevin jogged up the stairs to the studio.

"**Reason # 12:**" it read, "**She makes me tongue-tied.**"

"Tongue-tied," Frankie said, showing his brother and Stella the list. "I may be eight years old, but I know love when I see it."

**I know this wasn't the best flowing chapter, but I had so much I wanted to fit into this story before the end, which is drawing nearer and nearer. So this chapter was pretty long and choppy.**

**I hope you enjoyed Joe's song. In my new story I'm working on, I'm planning to have a cheesy song in every chapter. I want them to randomly break into song like in Slice of Life or Fashion Victim. I'm having fun with it. And I've come up with what I hope you'll think is a pretty awesome title for the story. Super excited. I don't want to tell you the title yet, but maybe soon I'll give you a little preview of the story.**

**Next chapter: Jackets and Jerseys.**


	13. Jackets and Jerseys

**The End is near. Overall, I'm happy with how this chapter turned out, although I struggled with parts of it, and bits of it still seem forced to me. I don't know. Maybe you'll see what I mean.**

**I made a trailer for my upcoming story, which I'm hoping to post on YouTube soon. And I've already written half of the crazy Flight of the Conchord-esque songs that are going to be in it, so I'm pretty psyched.**

**I don't own JONAS. Alas, all I own is Justin. And the tennis team.**

**14 Reasons Why Not**

**Chapter 13: Jackets and Jerseys **

"Joseph. Nicholas," Stella said, tugging on Nick's sleeve Monday morning. "Do you see what I see?"

Nick looked in the direction that Stella was staring and raised an eyebrow. "What are we supposed to see?"

"Look!" Stella cried, pointing.

"Macy's…back?"

Macy was standing down the hall, hanging a large, brightly colored poster on the wall.

"Not Macy's back," Stella said, becoming annoyed. "Look at what's _on_ Macy's back."

"Kevin's jacket," Joe said with a shrug. "So what?"

"Don't you two realize what a big deal this is?" Stella cried. "Don't you know what it means when a girl wears a guy's jacket?"

"She's…cold?" Joe guessed.

"You guys," Stella whined. "You don't get it. By wearing Kevin's jacket, Macy is telling all of the guys in this school, 'Sorry boys. I'm taken.' And by giving her his jacket, Kevin is saying, 'Hands off guys. She's mine.'"

"So what you're saying," Nick concluded, "is that something as simple as a jacket can symbolize ownership of a woman by a man?"

Stella glared at Nick. "You have to make everything sound so negative."

"What can I say? It's a gift."

"Don't listen to Nick," Joe said. "I think it's great that Macy's wearing Kevin's jacket."

"Thank you Joe." Stella turned to Nick. "You see, Joe understands romance."

"I mean look at her," Joe went on. "The thing is huge on her. Macy's tiny as it is, but in Kevin's jacket, she looks like Snow White's eighth dwarf, Perky. Now there's an image that will stay with me for the rest of my life."

Stella huffed. "You guys are impossible."

"I'm thinking that was the wrong thing to say," Joe said flatly, as Stella stormed away in Macy's direction.

"What's wrong with Stella?" Kevin asked, walking up beside his brothers.

"Joe just called your girlfriend a dwarf," Nick informed him.

Kevin glared at Joe. "You called Macy a…Hold up, she's not my girlfriend."

"That's too bad," Nick replied. "Because apparently you own her."

xoxoxo

"Macy, forget boys. They are just not worth…whoa. What happened to you?"

Macy grinned at her best friend's reaction to her purple swollen eye. "Kevin hit me with his guitar," she said, excitedly.

"Should I be worried?"

"It was an accident," Macy assured her.

"Well don't worry about that eye," Stella said, digging through her purse. "I can work miracles with makeup."

"No!" Macy cried, grabbing Stella's wrists.

"What? I was just gonna grab my concealer."

"Stella!" Macy whined. "This is my first black eye. Why are trying to ruin it for me?"

"Okay, Mace, okay. I won't cover up the hideous bruise that's taken over your pretty face. Forgive me for caring."

"I'm sorry, Stella. It's just that I've always wanted a black eye. Weird, I know."

"Okay, I won't comment on how weird that is, if you'll tell me all about your weekend. You didn't answer any of my text messages. I thought you'd fallen off the face of the planet."

"I'm sorry," Macy apologized. "It's just that I left my phone in Justin's limo, and then I fell asleep on Kevin's roof, and then the tabloids, and the reporters, and we were locked in the thrift shop and Kevin gave me his jacket, and then the black eye, and then I got my phone back, and then Talon from the tennis team wore a dress."

Stella blinked rapidly, but didn't say a word.

"I didn't have time to answer any of your texts after that," Macy explained, "because Kevin left me six voicemails and I had to listen to them over and over until I fell asleep."

"Well guess what happened to me yesterday?"

"Joe wrote you a song?" Macy guessed.

"How did you know?" Stella asked, looking disappointed that she hadn't gotten to spill the big news herself.

"I might have known he was writing it," Macy admitted.

"Well it was the sweetest thing ever," Stella told her.

"So are you two, like, going out now?" Macy asked, hopefully.

"Not exactly."

"He wrote you a song telling you he loves you. How can you not be together after that?"

"He didn't exactly sing it to me," Stella admitted.

"You were spying on him?" Macy guessed correctly.

"Don't judge me."

"I can't judge you," Macy replied. "I used to watch out the window of the third floor history room every morning with a pair of binoculars waiting for JONAS to arrive in the parking lot and I can't believe I just told you that."

Stella laughed. "So, uh, you and Kevin? You're wearing his jacket. Does that mean…"

"It doesn't mean anything," Macy interrupted her. "As much as I wish it did."

Stella sighed. "Look at the two of us. Young, beautiful, and painfully single."

"Make that three of us," Justin said, approaching the two girls.

Stella wrinkled her forehead. "Okay, young? Yes. Beautiful? I'll give you that. But single? You told me you had a girlfriend in Arizona."

"_Had_ being the operative word," Justin replied.

"Oh no," Macy said, putting a sympathetic hand on Justin's shoulder. "What happened?"

"Well you know those new rumors floating around the tabloids about our 'love triangle' with Rockstar?"

"She didn't believe that stuff, did she?" Stella asked. "Anyone could tell it was a bunch of bull—"

"Well not Bridgette," Justin interrupted her. "I got a package in the mail last night with everything I ever gave her in it, and a note telling me it was over and calling me a great deal of names that I have never been called before and am pretty sure I don't deserve to be called."

"Well that only makes me happier that I'm getting back at Jerry today."

"What are you talking about, Macy?" Stella asked.

"I have a plan to get my revenge on Jerry. He's the one who talked to reporters about me, and now he's gonna pay."

"Macy, you can't fight fire with fire," Stella objected. "You'll just end up with ashes."

"Does that mean you won't help me?"

"Are you kidding? I'm totally in."

xoxoxo

"What do you think Macy and Stella were just talking to Justin about?" Kevin asked his brothers, as Justin and the two girls made their way to the stairs. "And why was she touching his shoulder?"

"I'm sure it was nothing," Nick assured him.

"Yeah," Joe agreed. "It probably had something to do with that poster Macy just hung up."

"You're probably right," Kevin said, trying to push away his fears. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Joe asked, following his older brother.

"To read the poster," Kevin said.

Nick sighed and followed his brothers.

"**Seventh period today in the auditorium**," the sign read. "**The HMA Tennis Team Jersey Auction! Spend your free period in the auditorium supporting our tennis team, currently ranked #4 in the state, as they try to raise money for new uniforms. Bid on your favorite player's jersey!**"

"So this is what they were talking about," Kevin said. "Justin is going to buy Macy's jersey."

"Are jerseys like jackets?" Joe asked. "Does Justin wearing her jersey mean that Macy owns him?"

"Nobody owns anybody," Kevin replied. "Besides, it's an auction. Who says Justin will be the highest bidder?"

xoxoxo

"_Good afternoon students_," Coach Flynn's voice blared throughout the auditorium. "_Welcome to the Horace Mantis tennis team's jersey auction. Thank you all for helping us raise money for new tennis uniforms. Now, if you bid on a jersey, and you win, you have to pay for it in the main office by Friday afternoon. We're gonna get started with the auction now, starting with Garth Avery. Come on up, Garth_."

"Are you bidding on a jersey?" Justin asked Stella, as a tall red-haired boy stepped forward from the line of tennis players on the stage in front of them. The two were seated beside each other on the bleachers in front of Nick and Joe.

"_Let's start the bidding at five dollars_," Coach Flynn said. "_Can I hear five dollars_?"

"Macy's," Stella told Justin. "She was afraid that no one would bid on her jersey, so she told me I had to."

"Five dollars!" shouted a girl from the back row.

"Need me to outbid you?" Justin asked. "You know, so you're not the only person who bids on her jersey?"

"Not if Kevin shows up," Nick whispered to Joe, who nodded.

"_I have five dollars_," Coach Flynn said. "_Can I hear six dollars? Six dollars?_"

"As long as you don't go over fifteen dollars," Stella whispered to Justin. "That's as much as I'm spending."

"Six!" another girl shouted from somewhere in the middle of the bleachers.

"_I have six. Can I hear seven? Seven dollars_?"

"Seven dollars!" the first girl shouted.

"_I have seven. Can I hear eight? Eight dollars? Seven going once. Going twice. Sold to the girl in the ninth row for seven dollars! Next up we have Peter Banting. Come on up, Pete._"

Pete stepped forward, and before Coach Flynn could say a word, Tessa Bartlett stood up in the first row and shouted, "Twenty dollars!" then turned around and glared at the crowd, as if to dare any of the other girls to bid on her boyfriend.

"_Okay then_," Coach Flynn said, looking a bit shocked. "_Twenty dollars going once. Going twice…_"

The crowd, either because they respected Tessa's territory or because no one was willing to bid more than twenty dollars, remained silent.

"_Sold to the cheerleader in the front row for twenty dollars_!"

Tessa blew her boyfriend a kiss, which Pete showed no shame in catching and sliding into his pocket in front of nearly the entire student body.

"They're still in the honeymoon phase," Stella explained quietly to Justin.

"_Next we have team captain, Wesley Downer_."

Joe leaned forward in his seat. "Where's Kevin? He should be here by now," he whispered to Stella.

"Don't ask me. He's your brother."

xoxoxo

"This is your chance, Kevin," the curly-haired boy in the mirror told Kevin. "Today is the day you win her over. The day you impress Macy so much, she won't even remember who Justin is."

He licked his fingers and smoothed down his sideburns. "Kevin Lucas, you are one clever stud."

"Eh-hem."

Kevin jumped when he saw a second reflection standing behind his. "Mr. Fresno! I didn't see you there!"

"Clearly," the history teacher replied. "Pardon me, but shouldn't you be at your girlfriend's tennis team's jersey auction right now?"

Kevin sighed. "For the last time, Macy is not my…Wait a minute, that's right now?"

Mr. Fresno looked at his watch. "If I've got the right time, it should be about half over by now."

"Half over?" Kevin repeated, smacking his forehead. "I have to go."

"Don't forget to finish your report on the American Civil War!" Mr. Fresno called after him, as he shoved past the swinging bathroom door.

xoxoxo

"_And Talon Kirk's jersey is sold to the girl with the hat in the fourth row for thirteen dollars_!" Coach Flynn announced. "_Next up is our tennis team's only girl member, and arguably one of its fiercest, Macy Misa_."

Macy was surprised to hear a few cheers as she stepped forward. She'd forgotten what a big tabloid star she'd become over the weekend. It occurred to her that someone might try to buy her jersey to sell on eBay or something.

"_That's quite a shiner_," the coach commented as Macy stood beside him. He covered the microphone with his hand and whispered, "You haven't been getting into more fights, have you?"

Macy shook her head, drawing an "x" over her heart with her finger.

"Good." He began speaking to the crowd again. "_Can I hear five dollars for Macy's jersey_?"

"Five dollars!" Stella shouted from the fourth row.

"_I've got five dollars. Can I hear six? Six dollars_?"

"Ten dollars!" shouted a boys voice from somewhere in the crowd.

"_Ten dollars. Can I hear eleven_?"

"Eleven dollars!" cried Nick Lucas, standing up.

"_I have eleven dollars! Can I hear twelve_?"

"Twelve!" Justin shouted.

"_Twelve dollars_!" Coach Flynn said excitedly. "_Can I hear thirteen? Thirteen dollars, anyone_?"

Macy saw Stella stand up, but before she could bid, someone from the back row shouted, "Fifteen dollars!"

"Eighteen dollars!" shouted another voice from the crowd, before Coach Flynn even asked to hear sixteen.

"_I have eighteen dollars_!" Coach Flynn shouted. "_Can I hear twenty? Twenty dollars_?"

"Twenty!" someone shouted.

"_Can I hear twenty-one_?"

"Twenty-five dollars!" someone shouted.

"_I have twenty-five dollars_!" Coach Flynn yelled. "_Beating out Pete Banting's record of twenty dollars. Can I hear twenty-six anyone? Twenty-six dollars? Twenty-five going once. Twenty-five going twice_…"

"Fifty dollars!" shouted Kevin Lucas, bursting into the auditorium.

The coach looked ready to faint. "_I have fifty dollars. Fifty going once. Going twice_," he said, breathlessly. "_Sold to Kevin of JONAS_!"

"And you thought no one would bid on you," Talon commented, as Macy stepped back into line, grinning from ear to ear.

She gave Kevin a little wave, as he took a seat between his brothers in the bleachers. She barely heard as Coach Flynn auctioned off Barry Mitchell's, Chase Norton's, Paul Richardson's, Brandon Sherman's and Alex Taylor's jerseys. The next thing she knew, Jerry Valentine's name was being called.

"_Last but not least_," Coach Flynn announced, "_is Jerry Valentine. Come on up, Jerry_."

Macy crossed her fingers as Jerry stepped forward. Her plan was guaranteed to work, so long as Stella had put it into action soon enough.

"_Can I hear five dollars for Jerry's jersey_?" Coach Flynn said.

Just as Macy had hoped, there was no response from the crowd.

"_Five dollars_?" Coach Flynn repeated. "_Five dollars anyone? Can I hear five? Can I hear four dollars? Four dollars anyone_?"

Jerry shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other.

"_Three dollars_?" Coach Flynn said, sounding worried. "_Can I hear three dollars_?"

Macy watched as Jerry turned and whispered something to the coach. Coach Flynn nodded hesitantly, and said into the microphone, "_Jerry Valentine is…calling a timeout to discuss something with one of his teammates_."

Jerry spun on his heels and marched toward Macy, his brow furrowed in anger.

"What did you do?" he hissed.

"Oh, did I forget to tell you?" Macy asked innocently. "There's this awful rumor about you going around."

Jerry groaned. "I should have known."

"For some reason," Macy responded, "people have the idea that you have a bad case of athlete's foot…on your back. I mean, I'm sure it's not true, but even so, I wouldn't be caught wearing anything of yours."

"This is low," Jerry whispered. "Even for you."

"You know my friend Justin?" Macy replied. "Of course you do. He's the one you told a woman from Star Stalker magazine that I was in a relationship with."

"What about him?" Jerry asked, crossing his arms.

"Turns out his real girlfriend reads Star Stalker magazine," Macy said. "Actually, I should say ex-girlfriend. Since she dumped him after she read it."

Jerry shrugged, uninterested in this news. "Oops."

Macy grinned. "Don't worry. I already asked Coach Flynn, and he said that there was a plan in case no one bid on someone's jersey."

"_Five seconds, Jerry_," Coach Flynn warned.

Shooting one last death glare in Macy's direction, Jerry walked back to Coach Flynn's side.

"_Can I hear three dollars for Jerry's jersey_?" Coach Flynn called out.

The auditorium was silent for a few moments, before someone in the front raised her hand timidly and said, "Five dollars."

There were some scattered snickers throughout the audience.

"_Five dollars going once_," Coach Flynn said. "_Going twice. Sold to Mrs. Calf for five dollars._"

The auditorium erupted with laughter, as Coach Flynn tried his best to wrap up the auction. "_If everyone could just leave the auditorium in an orderly fashion! And those of you who bought a jersey today, please give your names to Mrs. Calf. An orderly fashion! Orderly…oh, forget it_."

xoxoxo

"Kevin, that was awesome!" Macy cried, tackling him with a hug as he walked toward her in the now empty auditorium.

"Yeah," squeaked Kevin, his face turning purple. "It would be even more awesome if…I…could…breathe!"

Macy gasped and released him. "Oops." She blushed as his face returned to its original color. Suddenly remembering the tennis jersey in her hand, she held it out to him. "I guess I should give you your winnings."

"Thanks," Kevin replied, taking the jersey from her.

"Just don't try to wear it," Macy advised.

"Why not?" Kevin asked, grinning. "You don't think it will fit me?"

"Don't do it," Macy warned, as Kevin began slipping his arms into the sleeves. "It's not gonna fit you."

In one swift motion, Kevin stuck his head through the hole and tugged the shirt down over himself. He immediately realized that she was right.

"Now…I really…can't breathe!" he gasped.

Shaking her head, Macy grabbed the bottom of the shirt and began to tug, as Kevin tried desperately to pull himself out of it. There was an echoing "thud" throughout the auditorium as the jersey released him and he landed on the floor on his back. He sucked in a deep breath, thankful to be free of the constricting piece of clothing.

"You should have listened to me," Macy told him, falling to her knees beside him. "Typical guy move. A girl tells you not to do something and you just have to do it."

"I can't help it," Kevin replied. "It's in my nature."

"You're not hurt, are you?" Macy asked, resting her hand on his chest.

As her fingertips touched his shirt, he felt his breath catch in his throat. For the third time that day, he was finding it hard to breathe.

"Kevin?" Macy said. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Kevin choked out, jumping up hurriedly to his feet. "I have to go now."

And leaving a confused Macy standing alone in the auditorium, Kevin raced out the door.

xoxoxo

"Guys, check it out," Nick said, when he found Stella and Joe sitting together on the stairs.

"Is that the list?" Joe asked, eyeing the yellow notepad in his brother's hand.

"It is," Nick answered. "And Kevin added reason thirteen."

Stella grabbed the notepad from Nick and together, she and Joe read what Kevin had written. "**Reason #13: She just might suffocate me.**"

"When is he just gonna admit that he likes her?" Joe asked, exasperated. "It doesn't make any sense. He knows he likes her. We know he likes her. I think even she knows it. So why can't he just tell her?"

Nick rolled his eyes. "Do you hear yourself?"

Stella looked from Nick to Joe, showing deep interest.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Joe said, stubbornly.

"Do I have to spell it out?" Nick cried. "You like Stella! Stella likes you! Why don't you just kiss her already so the rest of us can stop waiting around for it to finally happen?"

Snatching the yellow notepad back, Nick stormed away.

"That was awkward," Stella muttered, afraid to meet Joe's eyes.

"Kind of," Joe agreed. "What did you, uh, think about, you know, what Nick just said?"

"What did you think about it?" Stella replied.

"I asked you first."

When Stella didn't reply, Joe stood up and began unbuttoning the blazer Stella had designed for him. "Stella," he said, slipping his arms out of the sleeves and offering the blazer to her. He dropped to one knee. "Would you like to wear my jacket?"

Stella's lips parted in surprise and her eyes filled with tears. "I would love to, Joe."

Stella stood and turned around, allowing Joe to drape the blazer over her shoulders. When she turned to face him again, the tears in her eyes had fallen, and he reached out a hand to tenderly brush them away.

"What do we do now?" Stella asked him nervously, pulling his jacket tight around her arms.

Joe smiled. "Do you want to hear a song?"

xoxoxo

As Kevin walked through the parking lot after school, he was surprised to be cut off on his way to his car, but not as surprised as he was by who had intercepted him.

"Justin," he said. "What do you want?"

"I want you to stop treating me like the enemy."

Kevin was taken aback. "What?"

"You heard me," Justin replied. "You like Macy. I get it. But I don't like her."

Kevin narrowed his eyes. "What do you have against Macy?"

Justin sighed. "I don't have anything against Macy. I just don't like her the way you like her and the way you think I like her and the I liked Bridgette, who broke up with me because she thought I liked Macy the way I liked her which is the way you like Macy."

"Wait," Kevin said, blinking rapidly. "You're saying you don't like Macy?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying!"

Kevin took a step back. "Okay, okay. No need to shout."

"No need to shout?" Justin repeated, maniacally. "No need to SHOUT? Do you have any idea what my first week here has been like? Everyone at this school hates me! My girlfriend dumped me! And all because they think I like the girl who you refuse to admit you like!" He grabbed Kevin's shoulders and shook him vigorously. "I am not the enemy! I am the victim!"

"I'm sorry!" Kevin cried, trying to stay calm. "Will you please remove your powerful jock hands from my famous and valuable shoulders?"

Justin released Kevin from his death grip. "I'm going crazy," he muttered, staring wide-eyed at his hands. "This is your fault you know. I was never like this when I lived in Arizona. This is all because you won't just admit you like Macy!"

"Okay!" Kevin said. "I like Macy! Now will you calm down?" He seized Justin's wrists and forced his hands to his side. "Just take a deep breath and calm down."

"I will calm down," Justin replied, "when you get your callused rock star hands off of my valuable quarterback wrists."

"Sorry," Kevin said, pulling his hands away. "You were starting to scare me."

"I was starting to scare myself," Justin replied. "But it was worth it, because I got you to admit that you like Macy."

Kevin clapped his hand over Justin's mouth. "You can't tell her!" he hissed. "And you can't tell Stella or my brothers either. I'll lose the bet, and the stakes are…well, they're just too high."

"Da beth?" Justin repeated, prying Kevin's hand away from his face. "What bet?"

Kevin sighed. "Long story short, if I don't prove that I don't like Macy, I have to ask her out. And I can't. I mean, I want to, but when I'm ready."

"And when's that gonna be?" Justin asked, crossing his arms.

"I don't know."

"Kevin, I have a little advice for you," Justin said, putting a hand on Kevin's shoulder. "I hate to use the term 'beating around the bush', because it's cliché, and I hate clichés. Especially clichés that don't mean anything in the literal sense. I mean, does anyone literally walk around a bush beating something? What does that mean?"

"You wanna get to the point?" Kevin asked.

"Right. Rockstar, you need to stop beating around the bush with Macy."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I've been in your position before," Justin explained. "You know, where you like a girl, and you want to tell that girl that you like her, but you can't find the right words so you keep…"

"Talking yourself in circles," Kevin sighed.

"Exactly," Justin said. "So stop talking yourself in circles. Decide exactly what you want to say to Macy and say it. Trust me, you'll both be happier."

Kevin thought for a moment, before nodding hesitantly. "You're right."

"I usually am."

"Thanks, Justin."

Justin nodded. "You're welcome."

Kevin stuck out his hand.

"Truce?" Justin said, accepting the handshake.

Kevin shook his head. "Friends."

**Yay! They're buds now! That last bit was for xovickixo, who, like me and probably others, was ready to see the rivalry end. Next is the penultimate chapter (thank you, Lemony Snicket), which I'm hoping will be both the best and worst chapter of the story, as the next-to-last chapter always should be. It's also the first chapter I wrote, as I like to write the climax first, so it should be up soon.**

**Did you see what I meant about some parts seeming forced? Particularly the auction scene, which I tried to keep kind of short. Anyways, review. Tell me what you thought. Unless you didn't like it. No, just kidding.**

**Next chapter: Egg Salad and Chokecherry Jelly**


	14. Egg Salad and Chokecherry Jelly

**Alrighty. This chapter isn't very long, and not really full of surprises, since everyone all ready guessed what would happen. Sorry if it's too predictable, but this was the plan from the beginning and I simply can't change it. Hope you enjoy.**

**I don't own JONAS.**

**14 Reasons Why Not**

**Chapter 14: Egg Salad and Chokecherry Jelly**

"_**Is Kevin's Love Triangle a Hoax?**_

"_Reporters followed a Kevin Lucas look-alike to a local thrift shop earlier this week. What went on in the shop, they couldn't be sure, as they were locked out, but Justin Weiss arrived later, and three teenagers who looked like members of the supposed love triangle later emerged. However, the three teenagers turned out to be three students from a local high school. Macy Misa, formerly referred to as Kevin Lucas's mystery girl, turned out to be a boy dressed in girls' clothing and wearing a wig. Masquerading as Kevin Lucas was the source who came to this reporter last week with information about the alleged love triangle. So was this all just a prank? Do Macy Misa and Justin Weiss really exist? Or are they just boys from a high school tennis team pulling an elaborate, nation-wide prank? One thing is certain: Kevin Lucas is highly available."_

xoxoxo

"Good morning family," Kevin greeted Nick and his father, taking a seat at the kitchen table for breakfast. "And how is everyone this fine morning?"

"Well, your mother is stressed out because Frankie is sick," his father said. "Joe left for school early, because according to his logic, the sooner he gets to school, the sooner he can see his new girlfriend. And Nick won't put down that gossip magazine."

Nick dropped the magazine in front of Kevin. "According to this," he said, "you are highly available. And according to this," he dropped the familiar yellow notepad in front of his brother, "you plan to keep it that way. Or do you? It's day fourteen."

"Day fourteen of what? What's that?" the boys' father asked, eyeing the notepad.

"Nothing," Kevin assured him, stuffing the yellow notepad into his biology folder and taking a look at the picture on the cover of the Star Stalker magazine his brother laid in front of him. "Hey, it's Talon dressed in drag! It's too bad I was scared out of my mind that day, because that could have been funny."

Nick turned to his father as Kevin made a beeline for the bathroom.

"Do you ever wonder if somewhere you went wrong with him?"

His father shook his head, smiling at his son. "No, with him I know I got things right."

xoxoxo

"You have to think about something else," Macy told Justin. "Get over her."

"You make it sound so easy," Justin replied.

The two were sitting side by side on the metal bench in the atrium before first period. Justin had his face buried in his hands, his elbows propped up on his knees.

"She was all wrong for you anyways. She obviously didn't trust you," Macy went on. "Why would you want to be with someone who's always gonna suspect you of running around behind her back?"

At that moment, Kevin burst in on the two, looking determined.

"Kevin!" Macy cried, jumping up. "Justin and I are just friends. We were just talking! There's nothing going on between us!"

Kevin blinked. "I know."

"Oh," Macy said, looking a bit disappointed. "Well, what's up?"

"You probably want to talk to Macy alone, don't you?" Justin said, standing up, not even trying to sound subtle. "I'll just leave you two to it."

"Actually, I came here to find Justin," Kevin said.

"What?" Macy and Justin said in unison.

"Yeah, I need you to come with me to the gym," Kevin told Justin.

"I thought you had something _important_ to talk to Macy about," Justin objected.

"Me. You. Gym," Kevin instructed, pointing from himself, to Justin, to the direction of the school gymnasium.

"Um. Okay," Justin said, obediently following Kevin .

"Okay then!" Macy called after the two boys, now looking thoroughly disappointed. "I'll just talk to you later! I'll wait for you right here. By this tree."

xoxoxo

"Look, Rockstar, I know you feel responsible for my not having any friends and getting dumped by my girlfriend," Justin said. "And it is pretty much your fault. But whatever you're about to do to make it up to me, just forget it. Okay? Don't do it."

"Shut up and walk," Kevin replied.

Justin obeyed, and followed Kevin into the school gym, which was currently occupied by a dozen cheerleaders, crowded around Talon from the tennis team, who was proudly showing them his cover picture on Star Stalker magazine.

"We shouldn't be in here," Justin whispered. "We're interrupting their morning practice."

"Relax. They're friends of mine."

"Look ladies! It's Kevin!" one of the cheerleaders cried, pointing toward the doorway.

The next thing they knew, the two boys were engulfed in a stampede of short-skirted high school girls, leaving Talon alone in the center of the gym.

"Ladies," Kevin said, tearing himself and Justin from the crowd. "This is my good friend, Justin. My completely faithful and non-woman-stealing friend."

"Hi Justin," the girls chorused.

"Justin here," Kevin said, putting his hands on Justin's shoulders, "just got brutally dumped by his girlfriend."

The girls' eyes all widened and their big pouty lips got bigger and poutier

"You poor thing!" they all cried, gathering around Justin.

Justin welcomed their sympathy and offered, in return, a pitiful, "I thought she was The One."

This launched the girls into full-on cheer-up mode, which involved hugs, cheek-kisses, and even a shoulder rub from one of the girls. Justin thanked Kevin with a giant grin and a thumbs up.

"Well, now that you don't need Macy's shoulder to cry on," Kevin said, "I'm gonna go talk to her. See ya later. And Talon, my man, congrats on your first magazine cover."

xoxoxo

"And then he said he was there to see Justin. Justin!"

"So what's the problem, Mace?" Stella asked. "I thought you wanted Kevin and Justin to be friends."

"Well I did but…"

"But what?" Stella asked, knowing the answer.

Macy stared shamefully at the toes of her high tops. "But I liked Kevin being jealous over me."

"Well stop feeling sorry for yourself and be happy for Justin for finally having a guy friend."

"I am," Macy said. "But what if Kevin stops hanging out with me now that he and Justin are all chummy?"

"I wouldn't worry about that," Stella comforted her. "Here he comes now."

Sure enough, Kevin Lucas was strolling toward Macy's locker with a look of accomplishment on his face.

"Hey, Mace. Hey, Stells," he greeted them. "Macy, lunch in the atrium today?"

Macy nodded, grinning. Two weeks ago, she was shocked when Stella told her she would be eating lunch with Kevin of JONAS. Now they were hanging out every day, playing hooky like they were Ferris Bueller and Cameron, sharing secrets and dressing up guys in girls' clothing. Like they'd been friends all their lives, and not just a rock star and his obsessed fan. She sighed dreamily, daring to hope that maybe they were becoming more than just friends.

"What are you sighing about?" Kevin asked.

Macy snapped to attention. She had been so caught up in her daydreaming, she'd forgotten that the object of her daydream was still standing in front of her.

"Nothing," she replied.

"My dad says that a woman can say a lot with a sigh," Kevin informed her. "And he says a sigh is _never_ about nothing. He says when my mom sighs and says it's nothing it usually means she wants something done but doesn't think she should have to tell everyone what it is because women expect men to be able to read their minds."

"Kevin," Stella said, "I think when your dad tells you things about women, he doesn't mean for you to repeat them to actual females."

"Right," Kevin replied. "My dad also told me that women hate to hear the truth about themselves."

Stella rolled her eyes. "Macy and I have to get to class. Let's go, Macy."

"Okay. Lunch in the atrium," Macy said, shutting her locker and waving goodbye. "See you then."

"Can you believe what he just said?" Stella asked, as the girls walked together to class. "It's like he doesn't think through anything he says before he says it."

Macy sighed. "But he's so cute he makes me feel like noodle soup."

They reached Macy's homeroom and the girls went their separate ways. Stella shook her head as she headed to her own class. "Noodle soup?"

xoxoxo

Kevin was already waiting for her in the atrium when Macy got there.

"What do you have?" Macy asked, holding up her JONAS lunchbox.

Kevin pulled a sandwich out of his brown paper bag. "Egg salad on wheat. You?"

Macy pulled out her own sandwich. "PB and J on white."

"What kind of jelly?"

"Chokecherry."

"Ooh. And cut down the middle. Just like I like it. Trade?"

"Absolutely," Macy agreed, offering her sandwich to Kevin. She took his and admired it for a moment. "Cut across. Just how _I_ like it. This is a pretty good arrangement."

"Agreed," Kevin replied. "My apple for your carrots?"

The two were munching away happily when Kevin spoke again a few minutes later, his mouth full of sticky peanut butter. "You know, your grandma makes the best chokecherry jelly. The only jelly we have at my house is grape, and it's store bought."

"Well, your mom makes the best egg salad," Macy replied.

"Sandwich toast?"

Macy grinned and held up the egg salad sandwich. "To your mom's egg salad."

"And your grandma's jelly," Kevin said, tapping the edge of his sandwich to Macy's.

Macy laughed. "That kind of makes us dorks, doesn't it?"

"Who, us?" Kevin looked into Macy's soft brown eyes. "You know what. I really like…eating lunch with you."

Macy stared back into his eyes. "I really like eating lunch with you too."

"Maybe we should…eat lunch together more often."

"I'd like that."

"I've had a lot of fun hanging out with you the past two weeks."

"Kevin?"

"And I think it's really weird that we weren't really great friends before that."

"Kevin."

"And, you know, now I see you as way more than just some crazed fan."

"Kevin."

"And I know that you see me as more than just Kevin of JONAS."

"Kevin."

"I kind of feel like we've been friends way longer than just two weeks."

"_Kevin_."

"Sorry. I'm beating around the bush, aren't I?"

"Kevin!"

"What?"

Macy smiled and shook her head. "Don't you ever shut up?"

And in a sudden act of boldness, Macy leaned forward and kissed Kevin directly on the mouth. The kiss lasted a few seconds before Macy pulled away, threw what remained of her lunch back into her JONAS lunchbox, and rushed out of the atrium, muttering something about having to be somewhere.

"See you later!" Kevin called after her. He touched his mouth in shock. His lips tasted like egg salad, and his insides suddenly felt like noodle soup.

xoxoxo

Kevin didn't remember walking to biology. He, wasn't even quite sure he was really in biology. He could see the black board in front of him…vaguely. And he could feel the hard wooden seat beneath him…sort of. But all he could taste was Macy's kiss.

He still couldn't believe it. She'd _kissed_ him. And not just on the eye this time. It was a real kiss. Except that he hadn't kissed her back. He would have, of course, had she not run away. And, you know, had he been able to move or think at all.

At one point during the class, Mrs. Calf asked him to demonstrate something on the board. He walked to the front of the class, but there was no ground beneath him when he walked. He picked up a piece of chalk, but he didn't raise it to the board. He just stared ahead, like a zombie.

"Mr. Lucas, the class is waiting," Mrs. Calf informed him.

"Waiting for what?" Kevin asked, distantly.

"Mrs. Calf, I think he might be sick," a student in the front of the room told her. "I think the flu is going around."

Mrs. Calf smiled and shook her head. "No, I know what kind of bug has bitten him. Kevin, take your seat."

Kevin set the piece of chalk back down and floated to his desk. Mrs. Calf said something about taking important notes for an upcoming test, so he absent-mindedly pulled out a yellow notepad. He smiled as he spotted the familiar list. He thought for a minute before scrawling at the bottom, "Reason # 14: She makes me lose touch with reality."

Fourteen reasons. He'd won the bet.

But who was he kidding? He knew that every single item thing he'd written on the list were reasons he liked Macy, not reasons he didn't like her. It was time to surrender. He had to tell his brothers and Stella that they'd won the bet. And he would tell Macy the truth: That he was crazy about her. In all her quirkiness and craziness, Kevin saw Macy as an angel, or as close as any human being could come to one.

As the bell rang, Mrs. Calf said something about turning in their assignments, but Kevin was too busy walking on a cloud to really hear her.

xoxoxo

Macy got out of hockey practice early to talk to Mrs. Calf. Her mother had lectured her for hours about her biology grade. But it wasn't her fault. It was all because of that last test. She couldn't stop daydreaming about Kevin, and the low score pulled her grade down to a low "C".

"Mrs. Calf?" Macy said, approaching the teacher at her desk. "Could I talk to you about my test grade?"

"Of course, dear," Mrs. Calf replied. "Just as soon as I finish grading these papers. I just have one left." She held up a yellow sheet of paper. "Kevin Lucas."

Macy tried not to swoon just at the mention of his name.

Mrs. Calf sighed. "That boy can be so absent minded."

Macy smiled. "I find that kind of cute."

Mrs. Calf shook her head. "Well it's not cute when he accidentally turns something else in instead of his homework assignment." She held out the yellow paper to Macy. "You're friends with him. Do you think you could give this back to him and ask him to bring me his real assignment."

"Sure," Macy said, taking the yellow paper from her teacher's hand.

xoxoxo

"Guys, I want to talk to you about the list," Kevin said, approaching Stella and his brothers.

"Couldn't finish it?" Joe replied, grinning smugly.

"Actually," Kevin said, opening his biology folder and pulling out a yellow sheet of paper, "I did finish it, but…"

"Wait a minute," Joe interrupted him. "You mean you actually won the bet? What were the stakes again if he won?"

"We have to leave him alone about Macy," Stella reminded him. "And admit that he doesn't like her."

"That's the thing," Kevin went on. "I don't care about the bet anymore because I'm going to ask Macy…"

"This isn't the list," Nick said, snatching the paper from Kevin's hand. "It's your biology assignment."

Kevin smacked his forehead. "Not again. Hope it's not too late to turn that in."

Joe was too astonished by an earlier declaration that Kevin had made to be concerned with his current problem. "So you actually came up with fourteen--"

Stella cut Joe off. "Shut up. Macy's coming."

Sure enough, the small girl was walking right towards them, a hockey stick in her hand and a passive look on her face.

"Hey, Macy," Kevin said, wiping his suddenly sweaty palms on his jeans. "I want to talk to you about something."

In reply, Macy calmly handed a yellow sheet of paper to him. "Mrs. Calf asked me to give this to you."

"Is that…?" Stella began, her voice trailing off at the realization of what it was.

Kevin snatched the paper from Macy's hands. "I can explain…"

"Explain what?" Macy asked, her eyes tearing up. "Explain why you would write a list of things you don't like about me? Like how I'm obsessed with you. I'm crazy. How I make you stupid?"

Kevin felt numb. "It was…It didn't mean…I was just coming up with reasons that I didn't want to go out with you."

Macy's eyes grew wide, and the tears began sliding down her cheeks.

"That came out wrong," Kevin said quickly.

"I'm gonna get out of here," Macy replied, "before I start to get _too emotional_."

Macy spun around whacking Kevin in the shin with her hockey stick. He crumpled to the floor in pain. Without looking back, Macy stormed away.

"I can't believe it," Stella breathed, watching her best friend's hasty retreat.

"I know," Joe replied, grabbing the list from his brother's shaking hands. "He actually won the bet."

**I know lots of people were expecting Kevin to lose, but he had to win the bet. Otherwise the last chapter just wouldn't work. The LAST CHAPTER will be up soon. *wipes away tear* Please review. I love you all!**

**-Bubbles**

**Next Chapter: Sleepless Nights and Song Lyrics**


	15. Sleepless Nights and Song Lyrics

**Wow. So this is the last chapter. Wow. Sorry that parts of it are so terribly predictable. But this is the ending I've had planned since the beginning, so this is what you get. Hope you love reading it as much as I loved writing it.**

**Sorry I didn't update sooner, but this time it is NOT MY FAULT. I tried to upload this chapter on Friday, but it refused to upload. I kept getting this message saying that FanFiction could not convert my document or something.**

**BTW, the trailer for my next story is up on YouTube. If you want some idea of what it will be about, you can watch it. It's called How to Crush a Crush: The Easy-to-Use Manual on Losing a Stalker. I'm super excited about it.**

**I don't own JONAS.**

**14 Reasons Why Not**

**Chapter 15: Sleepless Nights and Song Lyrics**

The clock on the wall said, "**4:42**." Kevin had been staring at in since it said, "**2:56**." He wasn't sure how long he'd been awake before he started staring at the clock, or even whether he'd ever fallen asleep at all. Either way, he was sure there would be no falling asleep now. There was too much on his mind.

He kept repeating the list of 14 reasons over and over in his head.

**She's too obsessed with me.  
She's dangerous.  
She's crazy.  
She's too emotional.  
She can tell when I'm lying.  
She's too brave.  
She's too spontaneous.  
She makes me fall down.  
She makes me second-guess myself.  
She makes me lose focus.  
She makes me stupid.  
She makes me tongue-tied.  
She just might suffocate me.  
She makes me lose touch with reality.**

He cursed himself for ever making the list. The first few days it had made sense. When she fainted into her lunch, and when she'd whacked him in the face with a lacrosse stick, and when she'd gotten into a fight with Jerry Valentine at the mall. But why did he keep going after that? After he almost kissed her while trying to teach her the song he'd written for her on his guitar…

He sat upright in his bed, hitting his head hard on the bunk above him. Shaking it off, he rolled out of bed and ran to his guitar conveyor belt. Seizing his trusty acoustic, Linda, from the rack, he bolted to the firehouse roof.

xoxoxo

"What are you doing up so early?" Macy's mother asked, finding her daughter sitting at the kitchen table at 5:30 A.M. with a notebook in front of her and a fine-tip Sharpie in her hand.

"Making a list."

"In permanent marker," her mother observed. "Must be something big."

"It is," Macy said, miserably.

Macy's mother read the title over her daughter's shoulder. "14 reasons I am not in love with Kevin Lucas?"

"Mom!" Macy cried, coving the page. "That's private."

Her mother took a seat next to her and put an arm over her shoulder. "I, uh, noticed you didn't have any reasons written on the list yet."

Macy looked up at her mother with tear-filled eyes. "That's because I can't think of any."

xoxoxo

"Kevin? You'd better wake up. If you ditch school again, Mom will ground you from your guitar again."

"Huh?" Kevin moaned, sitting up and stretching. "Where am I?"

"On the roof," Frankie informed him. "Joe and Nick left for school without you. They couldn't find you."

Kevin snatched up his guitar by the neck and jumped to his feet. "I'm gonna be late! I can't be late today!"

He rushed toward the ladder and slid down it before racing bare-footed down the driveway.

"Where are you going?" Frankie called after him from the roof.

"I have to get to school!" Kevin shouted, without looking back.

"But you're in your choo choo train pajamas!"

"No time to change!"

Frankie shook his head as his oldest brother raced toward Horace Mantis Academy, his guitar strap sailing behind him.

"I actually share DNA with him."

xoxoxo

"Let me get this straight," Justin said to Macy, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "After a week of trying to get Kevin to act civil toward me, you want me to just tell him I can't be his friend anymore?"

"Of course not."

"But you said…"

"I want you to stop speaking to him entirely."

"But he…I spent a whole week…Kevin introduced me to the entire cheerleading squad. I got half their phone numbers thanks to him. A dude can't just cut off that kind of friendship."

Macy stopped walking and stared at Justin crossly; clutching the cardboard box in her hand with so much tension that Justin could see the veins popping out of her wrist. "So you'd rather cut your friendship off with me, the first friend you made at this school?"

"Why do I have to stop being friends with anybody?"

"He said I was crazy, Justin! On that list, he called me crazy! I am not crazy! I'm not, I tell you!"

Justin shrank away. For someone to tiny, Macy knew how to intimidate a guy.

"Okay. Okay, I'll stop talking to him. Just stop yelling at me."

Macy nodded curtly and continued walking toward her locker.

"So, uh," Justin hesitated to ask, "what's the box for?"

xoxoxo

"Hey, there's Macy," Joe said, nudging Nick.

The two brothers sat at the foot of the stairs in the Horace Mantis hallway, which seemed darker and gloomier than it had the past two weeks.

"She looks horrible," Nick commented.

It was true. Her eyes were red and puffy, and her hair was messy and tangled as if it had been slept on and not brushed. She must have been grouchy too, because Justin, who was standing at her locker with her, looked positively frightened of her.

Joe sighed. "Kevin must feel awful."

"_I_ feel awful," Nick said. "I was in on the bet. This in one fourth my fault."

Joe nodded. "I feel bad too. So does Stella. Macy's her best friend."

"Imagine how much worse Kevin must feel," Nick responded. "He's in love with her."

Joe looked at Nick. "You think?"

Nick nodded. "Definitely."

xoxoxo

Justin shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he watched Macy begin ripping things out of her locker and tossing them into the cardboard box at her feet. He spotted Stella nearby, looking miserable, and waved her over. He'd heard before that misery loves company, and right now, it looked like Macy needed all the company she could get.

Stella approached with caution as Macy viciously tore a strip of photo booth pictures from her locker and threw it into the box.

"Kevin stuff?" she dared to ask.

"Stella," Macy replied, "you are looking at an all new, _liberated_ Macy Misa."

Stella pulled Kevin's jacket out of the box. "Don't you think you're being a little hard on him?"

"Hard on him?" Macy repeated. "I'm doing him a favor. Why should I stay friends with a guy who apparently hates so many things about me?"

"Maybe he doesn't hate you," Stella said. "Maybe he just, I don't know, tried to tell himself he didn't like you because he was afraid to admit that he really does like you."

"That's a good theory," Justin commented, suspecting Stella of knowing a little more than she was letting on.

"Stella, I know you've been friends with JONAS, like, forever," Macy said, "but I think you're giving Kevin just a little too much credit."

"You've read the teen magazines," Stella replied, pulling a magazine with JONAS on the cover from Macy's cardboard box. She pointed at the inscription under Kevin's picture. "Kevin is the sweet one. Everybody thinks so."

Macy shook her head. "You didn't see the list."

Stella sighed. She felt as if she were as much to blame for this as Kevin was, if not more. Macy was her best friend. She had to tell her the truth. "Macy, I have a confession to make. I kind of told Kevin to…"

Justin cut her off. "Do you hear music?"

Stella and Macy listened.

"Yeah, I hear it," Stella said. "But I don't recognize this song."

Macy's eyes filled with tears. "I do."

A hush ran over the hallway as Joe and Nick made way for Kevin to walk down the stairs, picking at his guitar.

"Is he wearing pajamas with trains on them?" Justin whispered to Stella, who looked absolutely furious.

"Weeks of hand-stitching that beautiful new blazer for him, and he comes to school in pajamas."

They noticed that he was also barefoot, as he walked toward them, still strumming on his guitar.

"I have to go," Macy whispered to Stella. "I can't deal with this right now."

"Wait!" Stella whispered, grabbing Macy by the wrist before she could run away. "Just listen."

"I know you're mad at me," Kevin said, approaching Macy. "But I promised that when I wrote the lyrics, you'd be the first to hear them."

Macy scanned the crowded hallway, finding that all of the students were waiting eagerly for her to respond. A few of them even had their fingers crossed. Finally, she surrendered. "Go ahead," she whispered.

Kevin began to sing:

"_There's no one else out there  
who makes me feel this way  
Like I'm just a boy with a guitar  
and you're the reason that I play  
I try to get you off my mind  
but you're the song stuck in my head  
and there are just too many reasons  
I should sing something else instead_

_Because sometimes you like me just a little too much  
Because I get hurt every time we touch  
Because your craziness can make me crazy too  
Because there's too much behind your brown eyes  
Because around you I can't tell a lie  
Because not everyone can be as brave as you  
It's your unpredictability  
It's the way you make my knees go weak  
It's the way you always make me feel unsure  
Because around you I can't concentrate  
Because all my thoughts evaporate  
Because only you can leave me lost for words  
Because I can't breathe when you're around  
and my feet can't seem to touch the ground  
I'm sorry, but I must tell you the truth  
The 14 reasons I can't fall in love with you"_

By this time, tears were pouring down Macy's delicate cheeks. Stella, too, had tears in her eyes, and even Justin was trying to nonchalantly wipe his cheek with his hand, pretending he was only scratching his face.

"Allergies?" Nick whispered to Joe, who nodded, wiping a tear away.

Kevin continued his song:

"_And I can't seem to stop myself  
no matter how hard I try  
Because for every reason why not  
I can find a million reasons why_

_Because I like you just a little too much  
and I get this feeling when we touch  
Because your craziness can make me crazy too  
Because there's so much behind your brown eyes  
Because I never want to tell a lie  
Because you make me want to be as brave as you  
It's your unpredictability  
It's the way you make my knees go weak  
It's how you always seem to feel so sure  
Around you I can't concentrate  
and all my fears evaporate  
Only you can leave me lost for words  
I catch my breath when you're around  
My feet don't even touch the ground  
No guy could ever deserve a girl like you  
And I'm so amazed by everything you do  
That's why I can't help but fall in love with you"_

The hallway broke out in applause, led by Nick and Joe, who were both whistling and cheering loudly.

"So?" Kevin asked Macy. "What did you think?"

With all the force she could muster, Macy slapped Kevin hard across the cheek. He took a step back in shock.

"If you think you can hurt me the way you did and just make everything better by writing me a song…" Macy began. She shook her head, her face softening. "…then you're right."

Kevin's face broke into a smile as he took a step closer to her, absent-mindedly handing his guitar to Stella.

The two were standing inches apart when Macy spoke again. "But next time, it'll cost you two songs."

"There won't be a next time," Kevin assured her, his face getting closer and closer to hers.

"I'm sorry I slapped you," Macy whispered.

"I'm sorry I deserved it."

"You're not wearing any shoes," Macy breathed.

"Don't you ever shut up?" Kevin asked her, pulling her in for a kiss.

The hallway broke into applause once again. Mrs. Calf emerged from the biology room to see what was going on.

"Break it up, you two," she warned, smiling. "This is a school, not your bedroom. And Mr. Lucas, that, uh, _outfit_ is not regulation."

xoxoxo

Kevin adjusted the shirt Stella had come up with for him and the pants that Joe had wisely kept in his locker in case of emergencies. The shoes had been a little harder to come by. He'd had to settle for Justin's football cleats, which were two sizes too big for him and caused him to fall down four times already because of the metal spikes on the bottom. But it had been worth it. He was sitting beside Macy among his friends at a round cafeteria table. Joe and Stella sat side by side, holding hands under the table. Justin sat beside Stella, and Nick sat on the other side of Justin, staring at something at the other end of the cafeteria.

"So let me get this straight," Macy was saying to Joe. "This whole list thing was all a bet to get Kevin to admit his feelings for me?"

"Yep," Joe replied. "Although it didn't work quite as planned. We thought he'd cave on the third day."

"And then the fourth day came," Stella added. "And the fifth. And before we knew it, it was day fourteen, and he was still being stubborn."

"In my defense," Kevin put in, "I would've kissed her on day four if you three hadn't barged in and ruined the moment."

"So it's our fault?" Joe asked.

"And then I was going to again on day eight," Kevin added. "But then Justin showed up and starting touching me all inappropriately…"

"I was checking for broken bones!" Justin shot back. "It's not my fault you fell down the stairs!"

"My point is," Kevin told Macy, "for those two weeks, the timing was never right. Whether it was because you fell asleep, or because I hit you in the face with my guitar, or I accidentally handed in a list that looked way worse than it really was to Mrs. Calf…"

"Or because you were a big chicken," Macy replied, kissing him on the cheek to show him she was only kidding.

"I'm just glad it's all over now," Justin said. "No more of this romantic tension always lingering around and people refusing to admit how they feel about other people."

Kevin, Macy, Stella, and Joe all nodded in agreement

"Nick?" Joe said, suddenly noticing how distracted his younger brother was. "Who are you staring at?"

"What?" Nick said, snapping to attention. "No one."

Macy grinned and turned her head in the direction he'd been staring. "That's Farrah Dawson. She's on the volleyball team."

"I wasn't staring at her," Nick insisted.

Stella grinned. "You like her, don't you?"

"What? No! I've never met her. I mean, I have. But just once. In English class, when she dropped her pencil and I picked it up for her and handed it to her. And then our hands touched, and they sort of lingered there for a minute and…I do not like her!"

"Clearly," Stella replied.

"Besides," Nick went on. "She's not my type. I'd never go out with a girl like her."

Kevin smiled. "Are you willing to bet on that?"

**This is the part when I must put this story to rest. It's time to say goodbye. RIP Justin, Jerry, Pete, Talon, old lady in the thrift shop, Tony and his daughter from the basketball game, and any other OCs I forgot to mention because you're just not as important to me. You will live on in my heart forever. Except, of course, for those that I've forgotten to mention, because clearly you're not important enough for me to remember.**

14 Things I Learned While Writing 14 Reasons Why Not

1. OCs are simply the funnest things ever. The only major OC I'd ever written before was Aaron Schinn in I Hate You More, but this story was full of them. RIP Justin, Jerry, Pete, and all of the less major but equally loved OCs in this fic.

2. I love cheese. No, not actual cheese. I'm talking about Joe's Stella song cheese. Love it.

3. I am painfully predictable. But what could I do? Change the ending to my story just because all of your reviews were accurately predicting what was to come?

4. For someone not alive in 1985, I'm way too into John Hughs films.

5. xovickixo and Fabled Diamond are the most amazing reviewers in the world. Not that I don't love all reviews, but I can't read a review from either of these two without cracking up.  
5b. I think I might be engaged to Fabled Diamond. Is that weird?

6. Never promise to update soon. It will bite you in the butt.

7. People actually hold their hands flat in foam fingers. I had to ask my little brother. I also had to ask him stuff about sports and biology, because I know nothing about either.

8. Two a.m. is the best time to write. Seriously, what can distract you at two in the morning?  
8b. I am easily distracted.

9. Eating is totally necessary, not matter how into your writing you're getting.

10. Fan fiction trailers are way fun to make, but Windows Movie Maker sucks.

11. Checking email on my phone every twenty minutes at work does not make reviews magically appear.

12. A lot more people read the Misc. section on FanFiction than I thought.

13. Kevin Jonas is so underrated and really does have the best hair out of the Jonas brothers.

14. Fiction trumps reality.

**So that was 14 Reasons Why Not. I hope you all loved it. My next story is coming…I don't know when. When it's ready, I guess. But school has started already, so I don't know when that will be.**

**Thanks to everyone who read and everyone who reviewed. I love you all forever.**

**-Bubbles**


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